Bad week for Klaus - spokesman quits, Bush "not interested" in meeting
If you think you're having a bad week at work, spare a thought for the country's president, Vaclav Klaus. Last week he was taken to hospital - doctors say he's working too hard and must slow down. On Wednesday the president's spokesman announced he was quitting after just five months in the job. And finally, when it seemed things couldn't get any worse, diplomats appear to have confirmed reports that U.S. President George W. Bush has "no interest" in meeting his Czech counterpart.
Rob Cameron joins us in the studio now - things aren't going too well for Mr Klaus are they?
No, they certainly aren't - he's having a terrible week. He's actually convalescing at the presidential retreat in Lany, and isn't due to return to office for few days. It should be emphasised that one reason some people thought Vaclav Havel was no longer suitable for the presidential post was that he was always sick. You'll recall he nearly died on at least one occasion. Mr Klaus, on the other hand, has always had the reputation of a super-fit, energetic politician, a keen sportsman, someone who works 12 hours a day and demands the same amount of energy and commitment from his colleagues. Now, it seems, Mr Klaus's image as man of superhuman energy appears to be cracking: he was hospitalised recently with tonsillitis and pains in his hips. He is 62 after all - doctors say he's just working too hard and should think about easing off a bit.
And aside from his health worries he's also lost one his staff.
Yes. His spokesman, Tomas Klvana, has said he's leaving Prague Castle to take up a new post in the diplomatic corps. Now it should be stressed that President Klaus's advisers said the president knew about his departure long in advance, and that the parting was an amicable one. Mr Klvana himself said right from the beginning that he wouldn't stay at the Castle forever, although leaving after just five months does seem rather unusual. However there has been speculation that relations between the two men had been strained in recent weeks. According to one report, President Klaus was left fuming after an interview with the correspondent for France's Le Figaro newspaper on the circumstances surrounding his election - particularly allegations he was only elected thanks to the support of the Communist Party. The President was reported to be so angry he threatened to sack his spokesman because he hadn't received the questions in advance. The President's Office denies rumours that the two men fell out over the interview.
That's right. This report - if it is true - would be much more serious: being snubbed by the most powerful leader in the world would obviously be a major professional and personal failure for Vaclav Klaus. These claims - made by the daily Mlada Fronta Dnes - are based on the minutes of a meeting in the White House last week between President Bush & Mr Klaus's predecessor Vaclav Havel. According to the minutes, taken by the Czech ambassador to Washington Martin Palous, Mr Bush said he had "no interest" in meeting the new Czech president. A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry told Radio Prague he was unable to confirm the content of minutes of meeting - he would only say it was the role of the ambassador to be present at such meetings and take down minutes. He also said it remained the Foreign Ministry's priority to arrange a meeting between the two presidents some time in the future.
But supposing the minutes of the meeting are accurate, why wouldn't George W. Bush want to meet Vaclav Klaus?
Seemingly because of the Czech president's views on the war in Iraq, and in particular the way in which he expressed those views at a meeting in March with the U.S. ambassador to Czech Republic, Craig Stapleton, a personal friend of Mr Bush. At that meeting President Klaus called into question the justification for U.S. military action, and - if you believe reports in the media - even compared the possible deployment of U.S. forces in the Czech Republic to the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia. Mr Stapleton reportedly stormed out of the meeting, though once again the U.S. embassy has refused to release details of exactly what was said. Neither was the U.S. embassy spokeswoman willing to confirm exactly what Mr Bush told Vaclav Havel last week, so us mere mortals can only speculate. But no-one can seriously claim that relations between President Klaus and the Bush administration are blooming, and Mr Klaus will want to regain the initiative and restore his rather battered image when he gets back to work.
