Final Word from Monday, March 4, 2024

Pres. Petr Pavel has now met with three of the four PMs of the Visegrad countries. First was Czech PM Petr Fiala, with whom Pavel met at the Castle for the first time on May 2 of last year. Next came Robert Fico, who made Prague his first foreign visit as the new Slovak PM on Nov. 24. Then came Polish PM Donald Tusk, who traveled to the Castle last Tues. as part of a Visegrad summit in Prague. Václav Malý, a Catholic bishop, told Czech Radio on Fri. that he considers it very diplomatically impolite of Fico and Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán not to have visited Pavel while they were in Prague. If they saw Miloš Zeman or Václav Klaus, he said, it was their choice, but as guests in Prague they should have visited Pavel. Yet invitations to the Castle are sent by the president, and he had already met before with Fico. If Viktor Orbán didn't get an invite, it can probably be explained by the fact that Pavel said during the campaign that he wanted to prevent Andrej Babiš from Orbánizing the CR. [ Czech Republic prime minister Hungary Poland Slovakia ]