Czech press survey - January 29

Zeman does not conceal his ambition to create a semi-presidential system, which he cannot manage with the current cabinet. He could gain real power even if he visited the government every day and commented on every bill it submitted. He would only complicate Necas´s governing, Zlamalova writes.

It is rather necessary to observe how the "colourful" group of 100 deputies labelled as the government majority is reacting to Zeman. It would suffice if an individual or a whole party "got an an offer that cannot be refused" and early elections would be held, Zlamalova writes in LN.

Milos Zeman, former PM and current honorary chairman of the Citizens' Rights Party (SPOZ), has won the Czech presidential election but he should yet "win against himself," which is more difficult, Jana Bendova writes in Mlada fronta Dnes (MfD) today.

She recalls that Zeman´s rival beaten in the second round, Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg (TOP 09 chairman), has managed to keep his dignity after the defeat eventually.

It is not easy to be defeated. In other words, the art to lose is a highly sophisticated art, Bendova notes.

It seems that there is nothing easier but being a winner. However, the opposite is true, she says.

The defeated can train his smile for a while since he is not being watched for long. On the contrary, the winner will be in focus constantly, Bendova points out.

"However, we will yet see whether the winner of the presidential post will win against himself," Bendova writes.

The Czech president-elect Milos Zeman is a too strong nationalist to become "an obedient sheep in the herd of the leaders of small-sized European countries in Brussels," Martin Ehl writes in Hospodarske noviny (HN) today.

He admits that Zeman will probably not behave in the EU like his predecessor, the Eurosceptical President Vaclav Klaus. However, Zeman has a lot in common with other strong, charismatic populist leaders in Central Europe, such as the Slovak and Hungarian prime ministers, Robert Fico and Viktor Orban, and Polish conservative politician Jaroslaw Kaczynski, chairman of the Law and Justice party, Ehl adds.

He says Zeman does not hesitate to use anything, including the revival of the "ghosts of the past," to assume power even though, unlike the above mentioned politicians, he does not have a mighty party apparatus at his disposal.

His proclaimed "pro-Europeanism" is in a slight contradiction with his brutal use of nationalism, Ehl says.

Zeman has never been critical of Russia and its regime and he has always showed his affinity with the East in the name of business, Ehl indicates.

Foreign observers who feel enthusiastic about the man calling himself "a Eurofederalist" to become Czech president, may not have heard the other part of Zeman´s proclamation - that he can imagine Russia as an EU member, Ehl points out.

Author: ČTK
www.ctk.cz