Prague, (CTK) – Incumbent President Milos Zeman made nine false statements during the Sunday public discussion on the Nova television station, a part of the presidential debates, the server Demagog.cz said today.
Zeman spoke truth in 11 out of 32 statements relating to some facts.
In ten cases, the statements were misleading and two could not be verified, the server said.
Zeman did not tell the truth when saying that Mirek Topolanek’s government was ruling in resignation for five months. However, it was only three months, the webpage said.
It is untrue that Zeman stopped supporting the adoption of the euro by the Czech Republic several years ago.
The server notes that Zeman spoke positively about the euro last June, claiming that the Czech Republic was prepared for it, but only due to a mental barrier, it did not accept it.
Demagog.cz says Zeman’s comment on Russian journalist Leonid Maslovsky having written in November that “the entry of the troops into Czechoslovakia (in 1968) prevented the West from accomplishing a coup d’etat based on the technologies applied in the ‘velvet’ revolutions and preserved the life in peace for more than 20 years with the consent of all nations of the Warsaw Pact” was also untrue.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev distanced himself from the article at Zeman’s request, but he did not apologise for it, as claimed by Zeman, the server said.
Zeman also wrongly denoted the media outlet (the Zvezda server) in which the report appeared and Maslovsky could not be sacked over it, since he was its external collaborator, Demagog.cz said.
Zeman’s statement that with the exception of Jiri Kajinek, a double murder, he had only granted pardons to the incurably ill was also wrong.
The server says in November 2016, a woman who did not fulfill the condition of very bad health was granted a pardon by Zeman at the request of Pope Francis.
Zeman’s having said that Sweden has seven million people is also untrue as it has 10.11 million, according to the latest data from last November.
Zeman’s claim that as the prime minister (1998-2002) he led the Czech Republic to NATO is also untrue because the decision on it had already been made before his taking up the office, the server said. The country joined NATO in 1999.
Zeman is also wrong when saying that under law, the head of the Presidential Office does not need any security clearance.
“It is indispensable for the execution of the post because without it, he cannot take part in a number of talks or be acquainted with classified information,” the server said.
Zeman was speaking about head of the Presidential Office Vladimir Mynar, who was denied the clearance.
Zeman’s argument that the electronic registration of sales (EET) was raising the state budget revenues cannot be verified, the server said.
The same is true of Zeman’s having reportedly told German Chancellor Angela Merkel that if one invites guests to his home, he does not send them for lunch to the neighbours, it added.