In his New Year’s address, Czech President Petr Pavel called on people not to waste energy on conflicts that will not bring anything, but, on the contrary, to look for what they have in common. He appealed for greater cohesion and emphasized the role of young people in society, who, according to him, should be given more space in decision-making. At the same time, he would like the Czechs to trust each other more. In Thursday’s speech, he also emphasized that he will be interested in whether the government is taking steps that would threaten the democracy and security of the Czech Republic, reports TASR in Prague.
- Czech President Petr Pavel called for the mitigation of social conflicts.
- He underlined the importance of trust and confidence in Czech society.
- He emphasized the need to include young people in the decision-making process.
- He appealed for a healthy optimistic approach to daily challenges.
- He pledged to monitor the government’s steps to protect democratic values.
“In accordance with the presidential promise, I will always be interested in whether the government and individual ministers fulfill their promise and whether they do not take steps that may threaten our democracy, its institutions, our security or belonging to the free world,” the president noted.
According to him, the Czech Republic is one of the safest countries in the world, and also one of the most generous when it comes to charity. He recalled examples of successful Czechs in science, sports and business. However, according to him, the Czechs sometimes let their tendency to dissatisfaction spoil everything good. He emphasized that they should trust each other more and also trust each other.
Do not succumb to populism, he urges
He also touched on the topic of a divided society in which, according to him, Czechs waste their energy on conflicts from which nothing useful comes. He emphasized that the revival of trust in society cannot be expected from politicians. According to him, politics is based on a clash of opinions, and a dispute is the easiest way to take an interest in it.
“May each of us manage not to succumb to populism. May each of us manage to raise his eyes from the extremes he sees daily on social networks and look at things around him more soberly and judiciously. Then he will see that we all desire very similar things… It makes no sense for disagreement to become the motto of our country. We should, on the contrary, try much harder to re-name what we have in common,” Pavel pointed out.
In his speech, he also highlighted the generation of young people, who, according to him, are not indifferent to what is happening in society. “Let’s listen to the young, let’s give them space to come up with ideas, but also the opportunity to make decisions,” he appealed to his peers. Until 2026, he denied people a healthy optimistic view of the world and as little unnecessary skepticism as possible.
