Zeman To Have Farewell Dinner In Office With Fiala on Monday

Fiala is planning to have a farewell meeting with the head of state in his current role. Photo credit: hrad.cz.

Prague, Mar 3 (CTK) – Prime Minister Petr Fiala (ODS) will hold a farewell meeting with outgoing President Milos Zeman on Monday evening, just before the end of Zeman’s term, Fiala told Czech Radio today.

Fiala said he was planning to have a farewell meeting with the head of state in his current role.

He said he believed that relations between the government and the president would improve with the inauguration of president-elect Petr Pavel, who is to be sworn into office on 9 March.

Fiala said he had also managed to maintain appropriate relations with Zeman.

He said it was vital that Pavel had run with a view to calm down relations in society.

“For the sake of the interests of the Czech Republic, I tried to have correct relations with Zeman. I think that we have succeeded in this,” he added.

“I think that our effort to have a constant dialogue, to let key institutions in the state be able to speak with a single voice, at least in international relations, was successful,” Fiala said.

Zeman’s second and last term ends next Wednesday, two days after the meeting with Fiala.

“We have our last regular working supper on Monday, 6 March. It will also be a supper in which I will say goodbye to him while in office. We have been doing this regularly and I think that this should be so. The prime minister and the president should meet regularly,” he said.

Fiala has also agreed on regular monthly meetings with Pavel.

On 10 March, Pavel will appoint Petr Hladik (KDU-CSL) as the new environment minister. 

Zeman had refused to do so. As a result, Hladik is now a deputy environment minister and the office has been temporarily entrusted to Labor and Social Affairs Minister Marian Jurecka (KDU-CSL).

“It is a very important office. It is not good for a situation to continue in which there is no full-fledged minister,” Fiala said.

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