Former finance minister slams president for use of vulgar language in broadcast

Former finance minister Miroslav Kalousek on Monday criticised Czech President Miloš Zeman for vulgar language used by the head-of-state in a live programme broadcast on Sunday, Interviews from Lány. In the programme, broadcast by Czech Radio, the president explained – in explicit terms – the name of Pussy Riot, the activist group whose members were jailed in Russia, whom he likened to “deviants”. Mr Kalousek suggested that in his language the head-of-state was marring a legacy founded by Czechoslovakia’s first president, T.G. Masaryk and continued by post-1989 president Václav Havel. In the past, Mr Kalousek himself has not shied away from strong language on the Czech political scene.