President Pavel urges Czechs to have confidence in the future and resist populist solutions

In his New Year’s address to the nation, Czech President Petr Pavel urged Czechs to have confidence in the future and not to be swayed by scaremongering and populism ahead of the 2025 general elections. He said the state of the country was not as bad as populists would have us believe and urged Czechs to think carefully about the solutions being offered, before casting their vote in the elections.

The president said he considers it essential that the government that emerges from this year's parliamentary elections will be able to guarantee that the Czech Republic will continue to be a safe, free, and law-abiding country with a fair environment for life and business.

Mr. Pavel said he was aware of the fact that in the present day and age people want decisive politicians, but he pointed out that such politicians can be dangerous if their decisiveness is not complemented by democratic values, decency and reason. He warned Czechs against opening the door to authoritarianism and emphasized the need to defend and nurture freedom and democracy.

In his speech, the president also highlighted the need to reduce inequality in living conditions across the country as one of the big challenges facing the government and promised that he personally would do his best to raise topics that have the potential to change the lives of people in the Czech Republic for the better.

As in former speeches, the head of state expressed the view that it would benefit the Czech Republic to adopt the euro, a step that the government has so far resisted.