Should the president reside in the Castle? According to Mathé, it belongs there. ‘It does not correspond to his position’, counters Kalousek | iRADIO
From March 8, the Czechia will have a new president. Should he continue to officiate from Prague Castle? Would it be better if they moved from the seat of kings to civilian space? “He should stay there. It has been the seat of the heads of the Czech state for centuries and the public is used to it,” says former head of the Office of the President of the Republic Mathé. “If the president didn’t have his seat at Prague Castle, it would significantly contribute to the civilization of the office,” says former TOP 09 chairman Kalousek.
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According to Kalouska, the head of state in Prague Castle does not reflect the role of the president in a parliamentary democracy.
“The residence and the absolutely unprecedented number of square meters in the world that the president of the republic has at his disposal do not correspond very well to the position that this institution has in a parliamentary democracy. Yes, heads of state resided there for centuries, but they were kings. After 32 years of building democratic institutions, processes and mechanisms of a republic, not a monarchy, it is necessary to reflect on that tradition and say whether it is beneficial or not. We should build a republican, not a monarchist, tradition,” continues the ex-minister of finance.
“I would save the cost of a new headquarters.”
Ivo Mathé
Mathé admits that the campus is huge in terms of meters, but that the management is far from only the presidential offices.
“Today, most of it already belongs to the church, there is even the Lobkowicz Palace at the Castle, which has long been restored and the like. In other words, all the meters do not belong to the performance of the office of the president. There we can talk about some offices, representative spaces that are mostly accessible to people, for example the Vladislav Hall, and other events. And also a number of workshops, police and the like belong to Prague Castle. In other words, the area is only partially occupied by the president’s apparatus.
According to Kalouska, the Office of the President of the Republic was helped by a strong definition of competence.
“Transfer the monument to the Ministry of Culture, the protection of the President’s service to the Ministry of the Interior. The question is whether the Castle Guard must be an independent component of the armed forces, or whether it could not belong to the Army of the Czech Republic.”
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“The office is really limited only to the service that the president of the republic needs for his work. That is, for officials, and they should hold office somewhere else, including the president, than at the Castle. And, of course, the president would borrow the castle from the Ministry of Culture for a ceremonial occasion, but he would not reside there. That would make a significant difference,” suggests Kalousek.
In a few months it is noted
According to him, even without the seat of the head of state, Prague Castle would remain a symbol of Czech statehood. However, the changes would contribute to civilizing the function of the president.
“I think that the statistics prove that people are fooling around at the Castle. As you look down on people, some succumb to it more, some less, but everyone succumbs to it in their own way,” he says.
Mathé agrees. He says he knows from his own experience that this does not apply to the presidents themselves, but also to officials.
“Who look out of the windows, if they’re lucky, towards Prague. In a few months it is noted. I know the difference between an official who looks at the third courtyard and one who looks at Prague or the world – after half a year very prominent,” laughs the former head of the Office of the President of the Republic under President Václav Havela.
“I’ve done several foreign visits and it was quite common for a person to be in office somewhere and a ceremonial meeting somewhere else.”
Miroslav Kalousek
But Mathé disagrees with the fact that Prague Castle would remain a symbol of Czech statehood even without a president.
“I’m not entirely sure about that. If you imagine, for example, simply receiving ambassadors, handing over credentials or receiving state visits, it should probably take place in the first courtyard of Prague Castle,” he thinks.
Borrowing the Castle, for example, for particularly important visits does not seem very practical to him.
“When you have a high frequency of visits and the president’s engagement, which was the case, for example, in the first years of Tomáš Garrigu Masaryk’s mandate or Václav Havel’s, then they would have to borrow the Castle every other day. That would be very impractical,” he says.
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Kalousek, I don’t agree with that.
“I don’t see any problem with that. In my functions, I made several foreign visits and it was quite common for a person to be in office somewhere and a ceremonial meeting somewhere else. It’s not that strange and it’s not impractical,” says the former chairman of TOP 09.
According to Kalouska, it might be appropriate to build a completely new residence for the president of the republic.
“I would like an architectural competition where prominent architects would be invited to design the residence of the president of the republic, which established republican traditions. I repeat again that we have a republic and we do not have many republican traditions,” he recommends.
“I would save costs with a new headquarters,” responds Mathé.
Listen to the full debate. Moderated by Lukáš Matoška.
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