Prague, Aug 12 (CTK) – Czech President Milos Zeman, after his return from the summer holiday, continues to stir up public emotions by his provocative statements that do not represent Prague’s official positions and that make him redundant on the political scene, Jiri Pehe writes in daily Pravo Wednesday.
The counter-productive public debates on the issues that Zeman likes to open repeatedly and that are in fact meaningless, temporarily ebbed for a few weeks of his absence in July, Pehe writes.
As examples of such meaningless issues he mentions the question of what was or was not written by Czech journalist Ferdinand Peroutka (1895-1978), whom Zeman likes and dislikes, and how Zeman would solve various problems, though he does not wield any powers to solve problems as president, Pehe writes.
In Zeman’s absence, the Czech political scene calmed down, in spite of the migration and Greek crises. The government acted calmly and competently, Pehe writes.
However, this ended with Zeman’s return. Once again, the debate is focusing on whether Zeman will apologise for his previous statements about Peroutka and whether he has the right to attend, as the only European statesman, the celebration of the WWII end anniversary in China, Pehe writes.
His close aides, spokesman Jiri Ovcacek and Presidential Office foreign department head Hynek Kmonicek, are seriously pondering on these issues in the media, Pehe says.
In addition, Zeman said in his regular interview with the tabloid media that no one had invited refugees to the Czech Republic and that they should go away.
Zeman also said he would take a gun and go fighting Islamic fundamentalists, and that the Czech borders should be protected by the military, Pehe writes.
These and many other utterances and steps show how the presidential office works aside the logic of the Czech constitutional system, he continues.
The president could play a useful role if he supported the efforts of the government that he appointed, or if he criticised it constructively. At least, he should stand up to the emotion-fuelled public opinion on selected issues in which the president is expected to show prudence, Pehe writes.
However, unlike his Slovak counterpart Andrej Kiska, the Czech president prefers riding the wave of populism and stirring up emotions as much as possible, Pehe writes.
In doing so, Zeman makes his office more and more unnecessary. People are mostly flooded by provocative utterances from him. The Czech government is again and again forced to inconspicuously explain at home and abroad that the president said or did something that our allies do not comprehend, but he need not be taken seriously as it is the government that is responsible for the policy pursued by Prague, Pehe writes.
With this style, Zeman follows up the practices of his predecessor Vaclav Klaus. No wonder that Klaus says there is no alternative to Zeman as president. He is right. It would be difficult to find any other significant politician who, in his capacity as president, is capable of raising a permanent astonishment and embarrassment of Prague’s allies, Pehe concludes.
