Mixed reaction from politicians to Zeman's speech

Prague, March 8 (CTK) - Opposition politicians praise Friday's inauguration speech of new Czech President Milos Zeman, particularly his insistence on a law on property statements, while some politicians of the centre-right government coalition pointed to discrepancies in it.

Zeman, former Social Democrat (CSSD) prime minister, won the first direct presidential election in January and succeeded Vaclav Klaus who was president for two five-year terms.

Finance Minister and TOP 09 deputy head Miroslav Kalousek said he was surprised at Zeman "adoring the opposition agreement while on the other hand he called for fighting Godfather-like structures."

As a former prime minister, he forgot that the opposition agreement gave birth to these structures, Kalousek said.

Under the opposition agreement, Zeman's CSSD minority government was supported by the rightist Civic Democrats (ODS)), then headed by Klaus, in 1998-2002 in exchange for a portion of influence.

Kalousek said he missed any mention of the Czech Republic's future foreign political heading in Zeman's speech.

Deputy Prime Minister and LIDEM head Karolina Peake said Zeman contradicted himself a little bit.

"On the one hand he says he wants to be a president who unites people, who does not divide them, but at the same time he says further on he will help those who want property statements, those who are the lower ten million inhabitants, not the privileged, which is dividing people," Peake said.

Zeman has as yet overlooked LIDEM, saying it is not a regular party in parliament because it was not chosen in elections, but was formed by dissidents from the former government Public Affairs (VV) party that went into opposition last April.

Environment Minister Tomas Chalupa (ODS), on the contrary, said he thinks Zeman promoted the role of a president who unites people in his speech.

Bohuslav Sobotka, head of the strongest opposition CSSD, welcomed that Zeman placed emphasis on the pushing through of a law on property statements.

"The CSSD, just as the new president is convinced that without the property statements law we are not capable of coping with either corruption or legalisation of profits from criminal activities," Sobotka said.

Petr Mlsna, minister without portfolio and government legislative council head, said he considers Zeman's speech consensual and balanced.

He said the government will discuss the property statements law that Zeman wants to push through.

VV chairman Vit Barta said Zeman "completely clearly named the property statements issue."

He said his party has sent to the Chamber of Deputies a bill on the statements, but the government coalition is rejecting it.

Barta said he believes that the new president, winner of a direct election, will have big enough authority to bring politicians to discuss the bill.

Jiri Paroubek, former CSSD chairman and current head of the National Socialists-LEV 21, said the speech was "rather a literary work in the good sense of the word."