On March 7, 2023, outgoing president Miloš Zeman moved from the Lány castle to his new house in Lány. His car (left) was accompanied by two others.
Prague – President Miloš Zeman stayed in the Lány castle for the last time today and in the afternoon he moved to a new house in Lány. He has no official program planned until the end of his mandate. He should stay in the new house until Thursday's inauguration, his chancellor Vratislav Mynář told ČTK earlier. He will symbolically hand over the presidential office to his successor Petar Pavlo on Thursday afternoon, when he and his wife Ivana will have lunch with the future presidential couple.
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Zeman's last official event in his castle office was on Friday, when he received Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen at Prague Castle. Since then he has been staying at the castle in Lány. His last official event was a meeting with Prime Minister Petr Fiala (ODS) on Monday evening. According to the ČTK reporter, Zeman arrived in the new house before 4:00 p.m.
Zeman's ten-year mandate expires at midnight on Wednesday. It will be symbolically completed by the lowering of the standard that flies at the Castle during the presence of the President of the Republic in the Czech Republic. As a sign that the country does not have a president, the castle's Gate of the Giants will be closed.
Zeman will return to Prague Castle on Thursday morning to have lunch with the Pavlovs. Lunch will be held in the Golden Dining Room and will last less than two hours. According to ČTK information, at its beginning, the outgoing president should symbolically hand over the Order of the White Lion and the Order of Tomáš Garrigu Masaryk to his successor, which he will be the bearer of according to the law. He will also hand over to him the presidential key to the Crown Chamber, in which, among other things, the coronation jewels are kept.
Zeman and his wife Ivana will also attend Pavlo's subsequent inauguration. They will come to the Vladislav Hall together with Václav Klaus, Livia Klausová and Dagmar Havlova. At the ceremony, they will sit together in the first row among the guests.
The outgoing president had previously announced that after the end of his mandate, he wanted to devote himself mainly to books. But he is also counting on setting up his own office, in which his wife will be his assistant.
Zeman spent two electoral terms at the Castle. In particular, the second of them marked his deteriorating health, due to which he had to be hospitalized in the fall of 2021. Since his release from the hospital, he has been cared for by nurses at the Lán castle. According to Mynář, Zeman continues to count on their limited care.
During his ten-year tenure, according to the agency NMS Market Research, people gave him a four in the evaluation as in school. They mainly blame him for his choice of collaborators or his role as a moral authority. They also criticize him for leaning towards Russia and China.
