Prague, Jan 31 (CTK) – Vladimir Krulis, now deputy head of the Czech Presidential Office protocol department, is likely to succeed its acting head Miroslav Sklenar, daily Mlada fronta Dnes (MfD) wrote on Tuesday.
Krulis has been holding his current post for two years and a half, MfD writes.
Before Sklenar, the post of Presidential Office protocol head was occupied by Jindrich Forejt from 2004 on.
Forejt stepped down in December 2016, officially for health reasons. Before his resignation, some media wrote that he appeared in a compromising video involving drugs and male prostitutes. Men with a criminal past allegedly offered the video to media.
Krulis will now travel to advance trips to the USA. President Milos Zeman will visit the country at the invitation of new U.S. President Donald Trump in April.
Sklenar himself has said his mission may last months, not years. Due to this, he is to prepare his successor.
Krulis, 35, is a member of the extra-parliamentary Citizens’ Rights Party, largely comprised of Zeman’s fans.
Krulis is a graduate of a marketing and media school in Zlin, south Moravia, MfD writes.
After Zeman was elected the president in March 2013, the media said that during his campaign Krulis became the boy-friend of his daughter, Katerina Zemanova. Though the romance ended after a few months, Krulis is now joining the circle of Zeman’s closest aides, MfD writes.
At a recent ball staged by Zeman at the Prague Castle, the seat of the Presidential Office, Krulis was sitting at the table next to Zeman’s wife Ivana Zemanova. This is a sign of Krulis’ future rising career, it adds.
Much depends on whether Zeman will announce whether to run again for the presidential post. He is to make the official decision on March 10, it adds.
Referring to insiders, MfD writes that though Zeman has not definitively made up his mind, he has clearly indicated that he wants to run again.
Zeman has already announced his preliminary decision to some of his assistants, MfD writes.
He has called a meeting to discuss the issue for this afternoon, it adds.
“Despite his problems with health (diabetes), the desire to run again seems to have prevailed,” the daily quotes one of Zeman’s aides.
