President Andrzej Duda at Milosz Zeman's birthday. Radosław Sikorski: we advised against it

Former Czech President Milos Zeman celebrated his 80th birthday party on Saturday. The guests from abroad included the presidents of Poland, Slovakia and Serbia – Andrzej DudaPeter Pellegrini and Aleksandar Vucic, Prime Ministers Hungarian and Slovakia Viktor Orbán and Robert Fico, as well as former president Czech Vaclav Klaus.

The Czech guests were dominated by politicians associated with the current opposition camp, primarily the ANO movement of former Prime Minister Andrej Babisz. There were also representatives of the communist party and the leader of the PRO protest movement Jirzi Rajchl.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs commented on the matter on Monday in TOK FM Radosław Sikorski. He confirmed that the visit had been consulted with the government. – We advised against it. I would advise the president to choose a different choice of friends, he said. The politician assessed that this visit had already made a bad impression in Poland.

– I think the president is already regretting it, it probably doesn't build his authority. In the United States, the president cared about and pursued the interests of the fighting forces Ukraineand here he meets people who have different opinions – said the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

HEAD OF MFA RADOSŁAW SIKORSKI WILL BE THE GUEST OF MONDAY'S EDITION OF “KROKA NAD I”. WATCH ON TVN24 I TVN24 GO

A video showing a fragment of the birthday party aroused interest on social media. At one point, Zeman asked where Andrzej Duda was, even though he was sitting right next to him. He looked for him, asking “where is he?” Only after a while did he show that he was aware that the Polish president was nearby, and the latter responded to the whole situation with laughter.

Politicians comment on President Andrzej Duda's presence at Zeman's birthday on social media.

“I feel best among my own people. Zeman's birthday, packed with people who are tilted towards Putin and advocates of his interests, gathered those who think alike, represent similar values, dream of a similar model of the state. Is it particularly strange that PAD also sat at such a table ..(original spelling – ed.) – wrote Krzysztof Brejza, MEP of the Civic Coalition, on Platform X.

Brejza also said that he sent an “urgent intervention” to the president regarding his meeting with – as he put it – “the fifth column of Putin's Russia.” “Let's react. Putin's clappers want to weaken the EU, they act to the detriment of the Republic of Poland. The meetings of the President of the Republic of Poland with them are contrary to Poland's strategic and vital interests,” he wrote.

He asks, among other things, why information about the president's activity was not published on his office's website and what topics he discussed with politicians “with pro-Kremlin views.”

Another MEP from the Civic Coalition, Dariusz Joński, said that “Andrzej Duda at the ball with Putin's friends is the best summary of this presidency.” “Even though the former president of the Czech Republic celebrates his birthday, they open champagne in the Kremlin,” he added.

“During the day, PAD acts as a link in the pro-Western coalition for European freedom, and on world forums it smooths out tirades reprimanding Russia. And in the evenings, it drinks toasts with the pro-Russian right-wing crème de la crème. Fortunately, this bipolarity of the president will last only 310 days,” commented Witold Zembaczyński .

Janusz Kowalski from the club PIS however, he stated that he was “the most pro-Russian prime minister of the Third Polish Republic”. Donald Tusk. “A friend of Putin, with whom he met bilaterally four times. Today, Tusk supports Russia, allowing Poland to be flooded with Russian fertilizers, which is destroying Polish Azoty, and in the interests of the Kremlin, Tusk is sabotaging talks with Hungary on gas imports through Poland to Hungary,” he said, quoted by ” Fact”.

Former president Milos Zeman is one of the charismatic figures of the Czech political scene. He headed the Chamber of Deputies and the government, and his career ended with two presidential terms. He is considered a controversial politician, known, among others, for with sharp language and opinions that sometimes exceeded the boundaries of political correctness. In mid-October 2021, Zeman was admitted to hospital, where he spent 46 days. He uses a wheelchair due to leg disease caused by diabetes. After the end of his second term as head of state, he opened an office in Prague in March 2023 and sometimes comments on current political events.