The Presidium of the People’s Party distanced itself from the activities of its ex-chairman, Cyril Svoboda, which, according to him, are incompatible with the direction of the party in the long term. And it urged him to consider his membership. How does he perceive the challenge? And is he pro-Russian, as they accuse him of?
The Ptám se me guest was the former chairman of the KDU-ČSL and ex-foreign minister Cyril Svoboda.
According to the statement of the party’s presidency, he should now consider his membership, or “do not take action that damages the party”. The demand for Cyril Svoboda’s expulsion from the KDU-ČSL came from the current vice-chairman and Minister of the Environment, Petr Hladík, when on Sunday on Czech TV he declared that he no longer considers Svoboda to be a people’s person. Especially because of his long-term political views.
Svoboda was also one of the domestic politicians who gave an interview to the Voice of Europe server. It has been on the Czech sanctions list since last week because, according to BIS findings, it was operated by pro-Russian businessmen with the aim of influencing the European elections. The Presidium of the KDU-ČSL accuses its ex-boss, among other things, of previous cooperation with the chairman of the ANO movement, Andrej Babiš.
Svoboda, a long-time populist who led the party between 2001 and 2003 and then again in 2009 and 2010, rejects such criticism: “I am not in conflict with the KDU-ČSL membership base. The conflict was caused by Minister Hladík by introducing the Stalinist method in the KDU-ČSL of excluding people for their opinion. I have considered my membership and am staying.”
According to Svoboda, Hladík’s statements testify to the decline of the KDU-ČSL and the attempt to extricate themselves from responsibility for the drop in preferences with pseudo-causes. According to the last election survey from March, the People’s Party would have won only three percent of the vote and would not even come close to the five percent threshold for entering the House of Representatives.
Where are the folk headed? Is KDU-ČSL really in a state of clinical death, as Cyril Svoboda recently criticized?
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What was said in the conversation?
1:00 How do you perceive the whole thing? – I am not in conflict with the KDU-ČSL membership base. The conflict was caused by Minister Hladík by introducing the Stalinist method in the KDU-ČSL of excluding people for their opinion. This is, of course, serious, and it is also serious that the current presidency has not distanced itself from this method publicly, without discussion, without hearing. That’s what Stalin did.
3:00 Then the party leadership says I am deviating from the party line. Yes, I digress. Of course yes. Because the current party leadership brought the party to two percent. On the other hand, at the request of the party chairman, I wrote a letter where I think what should be done politically. And I expected that we might have a political debate. The answer is a motion to dismiss.
4:00 You don’t see the expulsion proposal primarily as a reaction to the Voice of Europe interview. – It’s a proxy problem. – Revenge for coming up with a proposal to change the policy? – Not that I am too visible and that I say what I think. And I also teach security studies. I try to follow western sources and express what I think is appropriate, I say my professional point of view. (…) It was Tomáš Zdechovský who said: “You know, the biggest problem is that he talks too much and takes up our space.”
5:00 It’s clear from what I’ve said that I see no reason why I should have to explain anything to anyone. (…) On the other hand, I would see it as a wonderful thing of courage if Hladík said: “You know what, come and get this Svoboda, come and talk to him, he might attract a different type of people than we attract. Let’s gather energy, let’s come to an agreement, let’s come up with a common strategy to help the people’s party.” A real statesman would take a step like this: Shall we go to war with him? After all, we only lose points on it. So let’s make a deal and find something we can do together. We may not agree on everything, but it’s worth a try.
6:00 I think we need to go back to our traditional voters, and that is pensioners first and then conservative people.
6:30 The Presidium of the KDU-ČSL invited you to consider your membership in the party. How do you deal with it? – I have considered my membership and am staying.
8:00 Do you consider yourself a pro-Russian politician? – First of all, I am not a pro-Russian politician, because I say what I study and what I come to like myself, Cyril Svoboda. And if the party leadership says, it is not in line, therefore it is pro-Russian, then someone tell me where and in what way I have damaged the party. In addition, I still hold a top secret clearance, so if I were any kind of pro-Russian activist, I would have lost that clearance a long time ago.
9:00 And what about your interview with Voice of Europe? – The story was simple, someone from Voice of Europe came forward to do an interview, so what I did was I contacted my friend with whom I discuss media entry. He looked, said: “No, we don’t see a suspect here.” When only the intelligence service revealed it, how was a certain Cyril Svoboda supposed to reveal it? So I consider this to be one of the weakest arguments.
10:00 I don’t look at who else is giving an interview because the important thing is that I have to stand behind what I say.
12:00 Did you receive any money from them? – Never.
15:00 Part of the pro-Russian sticker you have… – …I don’t have a pro-Russian sticker. – But some give it to you. Also because of the photo from the fall of 2015, where you attended the tenth birthday celebration of the Russian propaganda state television Russia Today, where you are captured at a table together with Vladimir Putin. – At that time, everyone had photos with Putin. And there they sat according to the meeting order. I think maybe it’s because I speak Russian, so they made a table where Russian was spoken. President Putin made a speech, said a few words and disappeared. (…) Photography does not yet make friendship. I was then cleared to secret and then to top secret. So, if it was a security risk, the NBU would certainly not give me both background checks.
17:00 As a former foreign minister, didn’t you think that there was something a little strange about it, a year after the annexation of Crimea? – This was the official station of the Russian Federation. That’s all I can say. There is no point in elaborating on this because I repeat again that I got all the background checks after that. – In retrospect, don’t you evaluate that it was a bad political judgment, that you underestimated it? – You won’t get any more from me.
19:00 When you mentioned that you have a recipe for KDU-ČSL, what should he do at this moment? – I am not calling for him to leave the government, in any case not, but he must start his own policy in the coalition. In points: friendliness to pensioners, protection of conservative values, putting pressure on the rich as well, starting with yourself, starting the Czech economy with suitable investments and supporting Ukraine militarily and economically, while also looking for non-military solutions.
20:00 Should KDU-ČSL remain part of the Spolu coalition? – In my opinion, there are only two solutions: Either a merger convention and make ODS dash KDU-ČSL, make one block, that’s one option. The second option is to disengage. The worst thing is to do nothing and expect that in a year it will be the same as today. It won’t be.
25:20 Will you answer my question if Peter Pellegrini is or is not pro-Russian? – I answered the way I wanted to answer – Is he or is he not pro-Russian? – He is Slovak.
I am asking, Marie Bastlová
Podcast Marie Bastlova. Hard talk interviews with people who have influence, responsibility, information.
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