Czech President reiterates in 2025 New Year's speech that adopting the euro would promote prosperity

Pavel said he considers it essential that the Government to be formed after the elections to the lower house later this year guarantees that the Czech Republic will continue to be safe and free with functioning laws and law enforcement as well as a fair environment for both life and business. The head of state also said political speech today is being reduced more and more often to marketing slogans.

Even the meaning of a fine word such as “peace”, according to the president, has become deformed by such marketing. He also pointed out that the actual state of the Czech Republic is far from being as bad as is sometimes thought by those basing their views on such intentionally-spread, negative sentiment.

The economic situation is not bad, the head of state believes, although the Czech Republic has long lagged behind in some economic fields and real wages are growing rather slowly. The president also expressed support for introducing the euro, just as he did on New Year’s Day 2024.

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This time the mention was indirect, with the president pointing out that it would promote the future prosperity of the Czech Republic for salaries to be paid in the European currency. Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala (ODS) said the speech by the head of state was dignified, statesman-like, and unifying.

Fiala expressed appreciation for the fact that he and his fellow constitutional officer agree on a positive vision of the future. Those same characteristics were also noted by the chair of the TOP 09 party and President of the Chamber of Deputies, Markéta Pekarová Adamová, while the chair of the Christian Democrats, Marek Výborný, also expressed appreciation for the positive inspiration.

The head of the Mayors and Independents (STAN) movement, Vít Rakušan, said he liked that Pavel showed respect for everybody and mentioned the need to balance out the differences between the regions of the country. The opposition were less pleased by Pavel’s speech.

The first vice-chair of the Association of Dissatisfied Citizens (ANO) movement, Karel Havlíček, said he agrees with the president on the need to stand up much more to the growing incidence of half-truths and lies in the public space. However, in his view, the speech played into the Government’s hands.

According to the head of the “Freedom and Direct Democracy” (SPD) movement, Tomio Okamura, the speeches by the president and prime minister were written by somebody who is out of touch with reality. Czech Senator Róbert Šlachta, who chairs the Oath (Přísaha) movement, criticized the head of state for “abusing” the New Year’s Day speech, in his view, to push the agenda of adopting the euro.

According to the head of the opposition Pirates, Zdeněk Hřib, Pavel gave a good speech, but he disagrees with the statement that the overall economic situation is not bad. The head of the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia, Kateřina Konečná, and the head of SOCDEM, Jana Maláčová, also criticized the 10-minute speech.

New Year’s Day messages were also sent to their supporters today through social media videos by Prime Minister Fiala, the head of ANO and former PM Andrej Babiš, and the chair of the Pirates, Hřib. According to Fiala, 2025 will be the year that decides whether the Czech Republic returns to the times of chaos, empty gestures and flirting with the East, or whether it will remain a rational country that knows the only proper future is to be part of the democratic West.

Babiš said this is a watershed year in which the elections will decide the future of the Czech Republic. He said he wants to do everything he can to see the Fiala Government brought to an end.

The former PM called the current coalition incompetent, anti-social, arrogant and dishonest. Pirate chair Hřib also stressed the importance of the elections to the lower house, saying he considers it important to resolve housing affordability, low wages, and the school system, which in his view is failing.

FULL NEW YEAR’S DAY SPEECH BY CZECH PRESIDENT PETR PAVEL

My dear fellow citizens!

At this time and on this occasion it is customary to recap the previous year. I don’t want to look back too much, though. What’s essential is what lies ahead of us, especially what we can manage to influence. That is what I’d like to speak to you about.

We all hope to experience a calm new year. We want to be happy and healthy. We want to have as many reasons as possible to be glad and to be proud.

Today, those wishes have an even greater sense of urgency to them.

When looking at the days and events that await us, many of us feel afraid. I understand that. We are all exhausted by the fear that these ongoing wars are spreading. We are tired of crises. We are disappointed by expectations unfulfilled. We are full of anxiety over the cost of living, which has risen sharply over the last few years. Doubt is being cast on values which we considered immutable. We are under pressure to form firm opinions about a whole range of social questions, essential and not so essential. We are under the pressure of great emotions.

That means it is even more necessary for me to share my experience of the last two years with you, as well as my conviction that the state of our country is genuinely far from being as bad as we sometimes believe on the basis of this intentional spreading of negative sentiment.

The Czech Republic, unlike many places in this world, has the good fortune not to be a direct theater of war and is not a place of extensive human suffering. On the contrary, it is protected by the strong security network of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and many other international guarantees. Abroad, our opinions and stances receive respect and space. Many people here are satisfied with the lives they lead.

Although there is no doubt that there are areas in which we have long lagged behind economically and that our real wages are growing rather slowly, the economic situation of our state is not bad overall. Even if we will not be making the same salaries here as they do in Germany for several more years, it would certainly promote our future prosperity if they were to be paid in the European currency, just as they are in Germany.

Yes, I am convinced that we can create optimistic plans with self-confidence for the years to come, not fearful scenarios.

I am convinced of this again and again when I meet with you face to face. When I speak with you about the matters you consider important. When you describe the difficulties you are grappling with, and how. When I can see with my own eyes the results of your work and efforts. When I directly witness the fact that solidarity, mutual aid and friendship are traits of our society which are ubiquitous.

I naturally also perceive that not everybody is doing well. There are households which must make a daily effort to overcome life’s obstacles. One-fourth of us live in territories which are economically and socially endangered. While that does not mean every fourth person faces exclusion or poverty, it does mean a large part of our society is directly impacted by the bad state of affairs in those territories.

Ameliorating inequalities between the regions is one of the most important challenges we have to deal with. If we are to succeed as a whole, as the entire country, we cannot be indifferent to how our weakest parts are doing. We also have to take political action on that basis.

That is why I want to tell those of you who do not have good living conditions, those who do not have so many opportunities to find good housing, a good job, a physician or a school for your children, that I will continue to strive to get your voice heard. I will continue to take advantage of all the instruments given to me by the Constitution to make sure that when your situations are being addressed, the openness and the willingness of the political parties to seek a reasonable consensus will predominate. That is essential for long-term, structural solutions.

For that reason, visiting even the most distant regions and the smallest towns and villages is so important to me and will continue to be so.

We are living in a time that does not value people who are willing to reach agreement, to back down from their entrenched positions and seek compromise. I regret this. The ability to speak together, to listen to each other and to reflect on the other side’s arguments is slowly being lost. What certainly contributes to this is the fact that political speech is being reduced ever more frequently to marketing slogans which have almost nothing to do with what actually matters.

Even a fine word like “peace” has been deformed by this marketing. As somebody who has been through wars, I realize the cost and the value of peace quite strongly. I am certain that all judicious people want to live in peace and that it is decidedly not something that should divide us. Let’s not allow ourselves to be forced into such a position.

Elections to the Chamber of Deputies await us this year. We can anticipate that the arguments and facts according to which we should orient ourselves will be buried beneath an even stronger layer of emotions and slogans that know no limits. We will be facing distortions of the truth or outright lies more than we ever have before.

These elections will be important. They will decide whether and how the most essential shortcomings worrying our country will be resolved. They will also decide whether those shortcomings will be resolved with humility, honestly and over the long term, or whether they will just be exploited to generate short-term popularity. What is essential is that we have a Government that will guarantee the Czech Republic will continue to be a safe state where freedom is preserved, where the laws and law enforcement work, and where there is a fair environment both for life and for business.

My wish is that each of us realizes the value of our vote in these elections. I hope we will manage to look underneath the labels of “liberal”, “national” or “conservative”. What is much more essential is that there will be real political decisions taken and solutions found.

It is apparent that the citizens, and not just in our country, are demanding politicians who are decisive. That is certainly a good, important trait. However, if it is not complemented by decency, discretion and reason, it can turn out badly.

My biggest wish is that we not associate any feelings of disappointment and scepticism we have over how life is today with democratic values as such. A dignified life in freedom is of much more value and yields greater satisfaction than a life dependent on the will of authoritarians. That we have already experienced.

I intend to remind us all this election year of the essential subjects which have a real potential to change our lives for the better. I will collaborate with experts and respected figures and I will also take advantage of the experience and knowledge I gain by visiting the regions. The aim will be to make room for a factual, honest debate among the political parties based on arguments and facts. On the other hand, the factual nature of such a debate should also limit the influence of half-truths, intentional disinformation and empty accusations between competitors.

This year will also be exceptionally important because it will show the future direction of the biggest two states in the European Union, France and Germany. We will also see the first steps of a new administration in America and its economic measures towards us, i.e., toward Europe. Change is underway in the Middle East. We will directly feel what an eventual peace in Ukraine will look like or whether Germany avoids economic stagnation.

We ourselves will have to be much more active. As a country, and as Europe. Demanding challenges and pressures to take fundamental decisions are also a chance to push through big changes. We must not waste this opportunity even though it will mean a lot of work and require a lot of effort.

My dear fellow-citizens, my wish for you personally is that this year will be a good one full of happiness, good health and satisfied days.

Allow me to close this New Year’s speech on a very personal note. Last year our fifth grandchild was born. My family is an important backup and source of joy to me and I hope each of you has people around you on whom you can rely. It is exactly our family that gives us unlimited opportunities to show our sense of cohesion, duty and love.

As parents, grandparents, and whole families I also hope that we manage to provide our children with the best educations, the safest possible spaces for their development, and that we raise a generation that will be happy, healthy in their thinking, and self-confident.

Dear schoolchildren, if you’re still watching this, I wish you a happy year. I hope it won’t just amuse you to sit at your school desks, but that it will also open the doors for you to new ideas, to adventures, and to the bravery needed to improve the world around you. After all, it is exactly you who will write the stories of this country one day.

Thanks for your attention. I wish you all a Happy New Year.