program president Peter Paul started at the regional office, where he was welcomed by the governor just before noon Ivo Vondrák(previously YES). Before the meeting with Vondrák, the president and his wife Eva signed the memorial book and accepted the gifts prepared for them by the region.
All gifts were made by companies from the region. For example, the president received a wooden motorcycle watch, while the presidential couple also received T-shirts with a cartoon dictionary of the Moravian-Silesian dialect. The wife of the president received the book Leaning Church by Karin Lednická, which tells the stories of several generations of mining families, and a decanter from the Jakub glass factory in Vrbno pod Pradědem. Dozens of employees of the regional office welcomed the presidential couple with applause. Upon arrival, an older man shouted at Pavel in front of the regional office “Shame on him, shame on him”.
The governor, as well as the mayor of Ostrava Tomas Macura (formerly ANO), preferred Pavlov to the head of the ANO movement and former prime minister in the presidential election Andrej Babiš. Both politicians subsequently left the ANO movement. The club of representatives of the ANO movement also excluded Macura from its midst. The presidential election started problems in the Ostrava cell of the ANO movement. After Macura and his deputy Zuzana Bajgarová were expelled from the club of the ANO movement, other representatives also decided to leave it. The President will also meet with Macura in the early evening.
The Moravian-Silesian Region as an inspiration for other regions
According to Vondrák, the president is already quite familiar with the region’s problems. At the same time, however, he is aware of the positive results of the transformation that the region is currently undergoing. “He perceives that what is happening in this region in terms of transformation is something that is quite key in the case of regions that are characterized as structurally disadvantaged. I’m glad he’s here and I believe it’s not the first and the last time. It is necessary to inform politicians about what is happening in the region,” he said at a press briefing.
“The term “structurally affected region” sounds bad to me, because it smells a bit like a negative assessment. It doesn’t quite fit the Moravian-Silesian region. The region as a whole is doing exceptionally well in terms of transformation, and in a number of ways it is an inspiration for other regions that we do not call structurally disabled,” Petr Pavel reflected on Vondrák’s previous statement. However, he added that the region is unfortunately still struggling with a large outflow of young people. “The Moravian-Silesian Region offers many opportunities for young people to find employment here,” says the president.
Pavel also commented on critical voices from the public, who pointed out that he would not meet so much with ordinary residents of the region, but rather with the “elites”. “This is the first and certainly not the last visit to the region. It is polite to start with the governor and look at some of the facilities in the regional capital. During my next visits, I will focus on places that critics may have talked about, I will definitely not avoid it,” he noted.
In conclusion, the president also commented on the plan to build a logistics center in the village of Mošnov. This should perform a similar function to the facility in Řešov, Poland, which Pavel also recently visited. “It is important that we have a ready infrastructure for the transit of material through our territory. The logistics center is ideally suited for this purpose. It can serve as a support for business development in the region, and when there is a conflict, aid and military material can flow through it. From this point of view, the base, whether in Řešov or the logistics center being built in Mošnov, is a means of assistance, but in no way combative,” he specified.
The possibility to vote from the age of 16 is not a bad idea, thinks Pavel
In addition to meetings with the mayor and governor, the president and the first lady also visited Petr Bezruč High School in Frýdek-Místek, where he met the students there.
„Andrej Babiš was the bearer of populism for me in that presidential election. That is why I saw it as such an incentive to return to service. When I finished my service in the army, I imagined that the days when I worked from blind to blind would be over. But this was the thing that of course prevailed, because that sense of responsibility to my country was something that accompanied me all my life,” Pavel explained at the Frydek-Místek grammar school why he decided to become president.
According to Pavel, the possibility to vote from the age of 16 is not a bad idea at all. “Many people at this age are actively interested in what is happening around them. I have verified that students at this age often know more about life than their parents’ generation,” the president let himself be heard.
At the same time, the president warned against the dangers of social networks linked to China, specifically mentioning the TikTok platform. “It should be noted that there are platforms that are linked directly to the Chinese regime. In China, there is no dividing line between private companies and the state. Through social networks, so much information can be found out about each of us that even we ourselves do not know so much. We should be wary of any platforms that come from China,” he told the students.
With the students, Pavel also discussed the topic of environmental protection, housing in the Castle or the question of the greatest Czech, which, according to Pavel, is Jára Cimrman. “We have a sense of humor that is very British, so dry to the point of being sarcastic. We can make fun of ourselves, and that’s why I think that Jára Cimrman suits us quite well,” he evaluated the complicated question.
After the discussion, Pavel received gifts from the school management in the form of several bottles of alcoholic beverages “to replenish the alcohol stock in Lány” and a hand-painted portrait of the first lady, which the Pavlovs are supposed to hang in Lumbe’s villa, where they will soon move.
Subsequently, Pavel headed to Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Czech in Nošovice, where he inspected the production capacities.
He will also see the newly opened City Campus of the University of Ostrava, where university facilities for sports and art were built for around a billion crowns. The first day of the visit by the President will end with a debate with citizens in the Gong Multifunctional Hall in Ostrava’s Dolní oblast Vítkovice. The president’s wife is scheduled to visit the Kamenec Home for the Elderly in Ostrava.
In both rounds of the presidential election, Babiš was more successful in the Moravian-Silesian Region, who won 44.86 percent of the votes 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.
