Czech Foreign Minister: Radicals in the Czech Republic luckily don't have a leader like Le Pen

Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, responding to the success of the head of the ultra-right in France, Marine Le Pen, in presidential elections there this past weekend, admitted today that the ultra-right might have electoral potential in the Czech Republic as well. However, in his view, Czech radicals fortunately lack a leader with the capabilities and intelligence of Madame Le Pen or Austria’s former ultra-right leader Jörg Haider. Schwarzenberg made his remarks in Luxembourg during a meeting of EU Foreign Ministers.

Schwarzenberg admitted that radical parties are evidently rising in Europe. “Ordinarily in times of crisis the radicals get more votes,” he said. In his view, such a rise is evident not only in France, where Le Pen came in third place with 18 % of the vote during last weekend’s presidential elections, but also in Austria, Finland and the Netherlands.

Schwarzenberg said he hoped democratic parties have learned from the past and know that the problem of radicals cannot be solved by backing down in the face of their demands. He also said he believes there is room for the growth of such parties in the Czech Republic.

“There would be that potential. For the time being we have had the good fortune that in the Czech Republic no one as gifted as the late Dr Haider has turned up yet. There is no one with his capabilities, no one like Le Pen’s daughter. I must admit that those leaders are or were capable, intelligent politicians,” the Czech Foreign Minister said.

“That potential exists in our country. Unfortunately, it exists in all of Europe, but thank God we do not yet have (among radicals in the Czech Republic) a capable leader, and those types of parties require a charismatic leader,” Schwarzenberg said.