The president spent about two hours in the mine and came out again shortly before ten o’clock. He was smiling after the ascent. Before he took the floor, it was said at the briefing that Pavel is the first Czech president who was in the mine – before him, Václav Havel visited it even before the division of Czechoslovakia. He went through a section of the underground on the tenth floor, which is roughly 900 meters below the surface, and went through workplaces that are still in operation.
Nostalgia for my grandfather
“A welcome opportunity to at least look a little at the work that the wreckers have been doing for many years. It’s also a sad occasion, because they used to do it here for decades, and now they’re closing it here.” said Pavel. “One realizes how demanding the job is,” he stated that he does not mean only the hard work of the miners, but also the technological part of the matter and the things that must be done after the mine is closed, such as degassing and securing the mine.
“The conditions there are almost luxurious in terms of job security,” he stated when asked by the media what he actually saw in the mine, recalling his previous visits to mines in Africa. He also looked at how the closing work was going.
After taking off his protective clothing, Pavel headed among the miners, who greeted him with thunderous applause. “Thank you for the opportunity to be here with you for a while and thank you for allowing me to get underground,” said Pavel. “My grandfather worked in the mine, he was a mine carpenter, and he always talked about it, and it seemed to me very romantic at the time,” Pavel recalled and pointed out that when a person is down in the underground, it’s not such a romance anymore.
He reiterated that he was glad to see the mines closing, although he understood that it was a sad matter for the miners themselves. But he believes that there are still plenty of opportunities for work in the region and that even here it is true that where something ends, something else begins, and it doesn’t have to be such a sad event. During the questions from the miners, he noted that of course he perceives the need of the Czech Republic and that it is clear that we cannot close all the mines if we have no other source of energy. He joked that it is also a good sign that the government of Petr Fiala (ODS) has pulled its heels out of Prague. There is a field meeting in Jeseník.
After visiting the mine and meeting the miners, the president met with the mayor of Karviná, Jan Wolf (ČSSD). Karvinsko is the district with the highest unemployment not only in the region, but also in the entire country. The share of unemployed there in February was 8.4 percent. Before the final briefing, the president will meet with representatives of the Dokořán Initiative and other civically active people from Karvinsk. The Dokořán initiative was established in 2005 as a non-profit organization and its goal was to improve the cultural situation in Karviná.
While passing through the streets to the meeting, he greeted his supporters, even took a selfie with a passing woman, who was visibly excited by the experience.
The President began his first domestic visit after the inauguration on Tuesday at the regional office, where met together with his wife Eva with the governor Ive Vondrák (previously YES).
Vondrák stated after the meeting with Pavlo that the president is quite familiar with the problems of the region. The president pointed out that the region offers many opportunities for young people. During the meeting with the miners, Pavel mentioned that there are plenty of opportunities for work, housing and beautiful nature in the region, and projects that will improve the quality of life even more must now be implemented. However, according to the president, it is necessary to remind young people that there are no reasons to leave the region.
Pavel: We have to help, I will discuss it with Fiala
At the final press conference, Pavel pointed out that he took away from his visit to the region that the regional perception is not entirely correct. “The problems of different parts of the regions are based on other structural problems, and although there are common features, an individual approach will be needed, different from what has been done so far,” he stated, with the fact that he confirmed with the visit what the region most likely needs. He saw positive things and good projects.
“But on the other hand, there are many problems here that culminate, for example here in Karviná,” stated Pavel, saying that the most serious is the outflow of young people and the structure of the population is changing in such a way that it does not give localities a perspective. “Intervention is needed,” he stated, adding that he will discuss regional issues with Fiala when they meet after the cabinet returns from the field session.
But he also visited, for example, the Petr Bezruč Gymnasium in Frýdek-Místek, the Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Czech car company in Nošovice or the newly opened City Campus of the University of Ostrava. He also met with Mayor Tomáš Macura (formerly ANO) and debated with citizens.
In both rounds of the presidential election, the chairman of the ANO movement was more successful in the Moravian-Silesian region Andrej Babišwho won 44.86 percent of the vote in the first round of the election, while 27.80 percent of voters supported Pavel. In the second round, 53.07 percent of the participating voters voted for Babiš, while the winner of the presidential election received 46.92 percent of the votes in the region.
Hejtman Vondrák and Mayor Macura publicly supported Pavel in the presidential election at the expense of their party leader at the time, Babiš, because of this, both North Moravian politicians got into disputes with the leadership of the movement, from which they eventually withdrew. The club of representatives of the ANO movement also excluded Macura from its midst, with which five other representatives eventually left the club. After that, the coalition fell apart and now a new one is in question.
