Speech of the Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek on the Occasion of the Presidential Election on 15th February 2008
Dear senators, dear deputies, dear President Václav Klaus, dear candidates,
I realized I remember a thing or two, as I am speaking to you for the fifth time. Last time I began my speech and said that the presidency commands extraordinary respect in our country, while the Parliament does not.
The last election and behaviour of certain political parties confirmed or even surpassed all my fears. Let us try, please, return to grace, which should accompany the election of the President. Let us return to the First-Republic tradition. To the tradition that the head of the state represents our statehood, to the tradition of the President who stands above political parties and their topical problems, to the tradition, in which the institution of the President is a timeless kingpin, a respected representative of all citizens. We are not debating rehabilitation of certain post-totalitarian political party here. We are not debating relationship between the government and the opposition today. We are not debating conditions inside the government coalition. We are debating neither fees in the health care sphere nor the radar base. We are not debating any of topical political problems here.
Dear lawgivers, dear electors, we are electing the head of the state for the next five years here. Nobody will remember our current problems after those five years. All the accusations, strict words, speculations, false statements, abusive campaigns and media screams will be forgotten, as I hope. Let us try to look further – beyond the horizon of today's election, beyond walls of the Spanish Hall, beyond our momentary interests, beyond time limits of our mandates. Let us look to the future and let us have all inhabitants of this country in our minds. Because, as Franklin D. Roosevelt said: "The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and senators and congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country." Everybody asks presidential candidates about their opinions relating to the topical problems, whether they support concrete attitudes of the individual political parties whether they are in favour of something or not, whether they are willing to change their opinions in return for votes. Are we really convinced that just these things are the most important and essential, that just these questions are the right and correct ones? No, no, no. On the contrary, these are questions which fractionate, not fuse.
Dear lawgivers, let us prefer to find common bases, common values, and common long-term vision. Let us respect the wish of our president T.G. Masaryk, who always used to require parties to be more united. Our first President said: "I think that even the most stubborn party member will agree with other parties about many issues, if they have common objectives and are educated enough to understand and to find means to reach them. Then, a peculiar coaction will arise.
Let us try to find those "common objectives" and that "peculiar coaction of parties". What will the Czech Republic be like and what should be like? What is the vision like for ten and a half million citizens for the next twenty five years? What president will fulfil the vision best in the following five years? These are questions which I ask and which everybody must ask.
A will answer them today as the Prime Minister, as the Prime Minister of the government which is prepared to share the vision with the next president, the government which is prepared to work on it in the following five years. What should be the Czech Republic like? It must be a free country with its own identity, a country with high level of civil rights, a country which is self-confident, responsible, economically open and rich in ideas. It must be a country in which constitutional tradition and fair play are respected. It must be a country which develops its economic, civilization and technological potential, a country which actively protects its cultural, historical and natural heritage. It must be a country which supports those who are active and takes care of those who are not able to look after themselves, a country which does not discriminate anybody and which sympathizes with needy people. It must be a country which is based on its tradition and which looks to the future, a country which respects traditional values of the West Christian civilization, and which explain them again and again so as it could bear favourable comparison with other countries of this modern world.
These are values that Václav Klaus has been promoting for a long time. His re-election or confirmation of his mandate would mean confirmation of these values, values which can be shared by every citizen of the Czech Republic, values which are not only for me or for some people, but for everybody. Promotion of such values requires a specific political experience, high level of professionalism, human maturity and a detached point of view. The office of the President is the height of a political career; it cannot be its beginning!
Dear senators, dear deputies, I am convinced that all of us are able to identify themselves with visions and with the candidate I offered here. The presidential election is not and must not be a vote against anything; it must not be a protest or an obstruction vote. We do not vote for ourselves, for the day, but for all citizens and for the future. Let us seek and let us find ability to overcome all that, which fractionates us. Let us find power which would unite us, which would unite us even during today's election. I wish you good luck in the election!
