The inauguration is knocking on the door – at midnight from March 8 to 9, the president will officially end his ten-year tenure at the Castle Miloš Zemanthen on Thursday, March 9, from 2:00 p.m., the official part of the inauguration of the new head of state will begin in the Vladislav Hall.
Peter Paul he spoke before the inauguration in the Bullshit & Politics podcast, which is supported by political commentators Bohumil Pečinka and Petros Michopulos. It was Pečinka who asked Peter Pavel whether he was aware that the longer someone stays in the old seat of the Czech kings, the more reliably the impression of his own election will emerge “and it will start to haunt him”.
“I fight back against it in several ways. One is that I like to keep people around me who always bring me back down to earth if I happen to be trying to get a little high.” responded Pavel, whose castle team will be led by the chancellor Jana Vohralíková.
Pavel: One period is enough
“Not everyone has it right at home. I have one like that at home, or one like that (wife Eva Pavlova – note ed.) at home and she will definitely not leave me alone. And then it would also be reasonable for a person to spend one election term in such a position. To minimize this risk,” means Pavel.
The question is whether he will stick to it himself. “By that I mean that it would be good for a person to be in such a position for only one period,” he repeated in the aforementioned podcast, adding: “I know that some people may not like it, but I think that to carry out such a function fully at 100%, those five years are enough.”
Pavel was born on November 1, 1961 – he therefore joins the Castle at the age of 61, and he will run for re-election at the age of 66 if he decides to run for office again after the expected five years spent in this position. In contrast, outgoing President Zeman is 78 years old today at the end of his presidency, he entered the Castle as the first directly elected head of state ten years ago at the age of 68.
Pavel: You don’t run away from a fight
Pavel will take his oath in the hands of Senate President Miloš Vystrčilo on Thursday at the Castle. Before that, he will have a joint lunch with Miloš Zeman and Ivana Zemanová, and of course his wife Eva will also be present.
Around 2:50 p.m., Pavel will greet citizens from the balcony on III. the courtyard of Prague Castle, followed by the laying of flowers at the statue of TG Masaryk on Hradčanské náměstí, a glass of wine with guests in the Spanish Hall and a concert by the Czech Philharmonic and the Prague Philharmonic Choir, national or ceremonial anthem Te Deum service in the chapel of St. Wenceslas. On Thursday at 8:10 p.m., he will conclude the inauguration day with an interview for ČT.
“I’ve never had such a temperament that I wanted to be intimidated by difficulties. I know what I’m getting into I definitely didn’t paint it rosy and even though I know there will be problems, I don’t run away from the fight“, Pavel continued in the Kecy & politika podcast.
Anxiety about expectations
“Quite logically, when there are two election periods, the president can try to behave in the first one in such a way as to be elected for the second one and then enjoy the second one,” added Pavel, who in the 2nd round of the presidential election received 3,359,301 votes, a clear victory with 58.32% over second Andrej Babiš (41.67%, 2,399,898 votes).
Pavel mentioned in the podcast that he does not see the fact that so many people voted for him as a problem in contrast to the future powers of the head of state. “It rather scared me a little, to tell the truth. It’s 3.3 million people who, for some reason, believe in you and place hopes and expectations in you that you may, and very likely, will not be able to fulfill.” says Pavel and drew attention to the disproportion between expectations and reality.
“Certainly among those people there are realists who know well that the president probably won’t solve all their ills, but on the other hand, there will definitely be a lot of people who at least have the hope that he will help them with some of their problems, even though the solution of those problems is completely outside his powers, and it will be difficult to explain to them that it is not possible, because they will perceive it as an excuse, or alibism,” added Pavel for Kecy & politika.
