President-elect Petr Pavel's visit to the Ústí Region: press briefing at the end of the visit, February 23, 2023 at the Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem (UJEP).
Ústí nad Labem – After the official part of the visit to the Ústí Region, incoming President Petr Pavel said that the region lacks coordination, communication and goodwill to solve its problems. According to his statement, this is precisely where he can lend a helping hand. On Tuesday, he wants to call on Prime Minister Petr Fiala (ODS) to organize a government meeting in the Karlovy Vary region or the Ústí region.
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Photo gallery: President-elect Petr Pavel
Pavel started his visit in Šluknov in Děčín, where he met with the mayors of the surrounding municipalities. According to the mayor of Šluknov, Tomáš Kolonečný (STAN), they discussed cohesion policy and the problems associated with it. Next, he headed to the knife company Mikov, where he met with representatives of the company and its employees.
Peter Pavle was greeted by a full square in Česká Kamenice in the morning. The solution to the considered extension of the retirement age must be more flexible and suit people of various professions as well as their abilities in terms of health, said Pavel in response to a question from one of the citizens.
In Ústí nad Labem, the elected president stopped at an elementary school in the socially excluded area of Mojžíř. According to director Karel Bendlmajer, 450 to 470 children attend Mojžíř elementary school. “The number here changes every day,” he told CTK. The vast majority are from the local housing estate, which is among socially excluded localities. The school is known in Ústí for accepting problematic pupils from elsewhere, so children come here from all over the city. According to the director, the biggest problem is attendance and the attitude of families to education.
After visiting the school, Pavel also commented on whether there will be official portraits of him in the classrooms. He doesn't think it's necessary. He stated that he was initially not interested in either classroom portraits or stamps with his portrait. But when he saw the anger it caused among the citizens, he decided to give it a “free course”. “If people want portraits, fine, let them have them, if they want stamps, we'll try to make a limited edition,” he added.
At the regional office, he heard the problems of regional representatives and mayors from the entire region , which particularly touched on problems in excluded localities.
Pavel ended his visit with a debate with students and the public in a completely filled hall at the University of Ústí. People asked about the problem of misinformation and his position on the adoption of the euro, which, according to Pavel, has more benefits than disadvantages.
On Friday, the president-elect wants to meet with representatives of the opposition on the topic of pension reform. Today, Pavla will have an informal meeting with representatives of non-profit organizations in Ústí nad Labem. He repeated that he will go to the Moravian-Silesian region only after the inauguration.
The trip to the north of Bohemia is his second trip to the regions after the elections, he was in the Karlovy Vary region last week. Pavel, who has a permanent residence in the village of Černouček in Litoměřice, was in Ústí nad Labem at the start of the campaign before the second round of the presidential elections. He was welcomed by the then full square by the church with the leaning tower. In the regional capital, he defeated his opponent by 99 votes.
In the Ústí Region, Babiš received 54.47 percent of the vote, which is the most of all three regions in which he won. Babiš still won in the Moravian-Silesian region, where Pavel wants to go after the inauguration in March.
