PRAGUE, Czech Republic (AP) – Over the past 10 years, Czech President Milos Zeman has stirred controversy, demanding a referendum on whether his country should leave the European Union, targeting migrants and attacking journalists. making fun of the murder of
Many Czechs will welcome the departure of their outgoing premier on Wednesday – with an activist group planning to burn an effigy of Zeman and throw the ashes into Prague’s Vltava River.
Zeman will be replaced in a largely ceremonial position by retired army general Petr Pavel, who defeated the populist billionaire in the second round of the presidential election on January 28. Powell formally takes office on Thursday.
In his two consecutive terms in office, 78-year-old Zeman has polarized public opinion. A divided nation to which he contributed would be the most visible legacy of his reign, while much of his political agenda at home and abroad failed.
While his predecessors, Vaclav Havel and Vaclav Klaus, were elected by parliament, when former Prime Minister Zeman took office in 2013, it was in a direct vote by the Czech public. His ally Lady Babis – who ran unsuccessfully against Powell in January – became finance minister later that year before assuming the office of prime minister.
Vera Kovarova, deputy speaker of the lower house of parliament from the STAN party, said, “It turns out that a directly elected president can become a semi-dictator if he has the will and faces a weak opponent in the prime minister.”
FILE: Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) talks with Czech Republic President Milos Zeman during their meeting at the Bocharov Ruchey residence in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia, November 21, 2017. (Mikhail Klementyev, Kremlin pool photo via AP)
Zeman was considered more pro-European than his Eurosceptic predecessor Claus, but has gradually used every opportunity to attack the EU, including plans to tackle climate change. After Britain decided to leave the European Union, he proposed a referendum on the country’s membership – saying he would vote to remain.
He also called for closer ties with China and became a leading pro-Russian voice in EU politics.
His critics called him a “servant of the Kremlin” when he took sides with Russia and cast doubt on the findings of his country’s own security and intelligence services on the alleged involvement of Russian spies in a massive 2014 ammunition explosion.
After Russia invaded Ukraine last year, Zeman condemned the “unprovoked act of aggression”, but he opposed the initial EU sanctions against Russia following the 2014 annexation of Crimea.
Zeman announced that he would focus on economic diplomacy, but his promises of billions of dollars of Chinese investment never materialized and his hopes of fostering relations with Russia were dashed with the invasion of Ukraine.
That year, on the 25th anniversary of the anti-communist Velvet Revolution of 1989, protesters threw eggs, sandwiches and tomatoes at him, accusing him of betraying the commitment to human rights enshrined by Havel, the revolution’s hero.
Zeman was one of the few European leaders to support Donald Trump’s bid for the White House and his decision to move the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. His pro-Israel views were perhaps the only part of his foreign policy that was positively received in his country, which is one of Israel’s strongest allies in the European Union.
FILE: President Isaac Herzog (left) awards the Israeli Presidential Medal of Freedom to his Czech counterpart, Milos Zeman, in Prague on July 11, 2022 (Haim Zach/GPO)
In other controversial acts, Zeman also linked immigration to Islamic extremist attacks in Europe, which he described as an “organised invasion”. And he made disparaging comments about the #MeToo movement and transgender people, and vowed to veto legislation allowing gay marriage should it be approved by parliament.
The media presented another target. On his first day in office, Zeman said that some journalists were “brainwashed” and “manipulated public opinion.” He told Russian President Vladimir Putin during a meeting in China that there were too many journalists and some should be “liquidated”.
At home, Zeman was accused of trying to adjust the constitution to his own needs. In 2019, the Senate, the upper house of parliament, voted to accuse the proposed government of failing to act in accordance with the constitution on eight counts, including repeated failure to appoint ministers. But the lower house, dominated by the Bábís party, did not follow suit and the matter was never referred to the Constitutional Court for a final decision.
In 2013, after a government collapse, Zeman ignored the majority coalition in parliament and named a new government of technocrats led by his advisor as prime minister. Most of the constitutional lawyers and experts said that he has no right to do so.
File: Czech President Milos Zeman welcomes his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier at Prague Castle in Prague, Czech Republic, August 26, 2021. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
That cabinet lost a vote of confidence, but remained in power for half a year until an early election, carrying forward some of Zeman’s projects, including an artificial waterway that would link rivers in Austria, Poland and Czechia. Experts dismissed the project as unrealistic and it was recently completely abandoned by the present government.
Zeman is a chain smoker with a soft spot for alcohol, but has said he changed his habits on the advice of his doctors. He is diabetic, has difficulty in walking and is using a wheelchair.
Zeman has said that he will settle in his new home near the presidential palace in Lány, west of Prague, and that he plans to open an office near Prague Castle, the seat of the presidency.
