Final Word from Tuesday, January 2, 2024
PM Petr Fiala refers to ODS as a "conservatively liberal" political party, which means it upholds liberal Western values and the democratic system and also promotes such things as free enterprise, private ownership and socially conservative ideas. What Pres. Petr Pavel represents is harder to pin down. He's clearly liberal in terms of Western values, and he supports the Fiala government's cost-cutting efforts, but he usually hedges in terms of social issues to the point of not making his views clear. Yet when he promised the Senate on Dec. 14 that one of his future nominees to the Constitutional Court would be "conservative," he was in essence acknowledging that all of his candidates so far have been progressive. And when he addressed young people in his New Year's address yesterday and said they should try to "change things for the better," it sounded as though he was awakening to the woke movement. Will Petr Pavel perhaps become the first Czech president to take the side of Palestine? [ Czech Republic Israel Middle East austerity package consolidation ]
Glossary of difficult words
Note: We originally gave this the title "The awakening liberally progressive president" but have amended it to "progressively liberal" to better reflect the comparison to ODS's "conservatively liberal" label;
awakening - becoming aware of something;
to pin down - to define or identify precisely;
to hedge - to void making a definite statement or commitment;
woke - alert to injustice in society.