Democracy Digest: Zeman Leaves Prague Castle in Bit of a Mess for Pavel

One thing Pavel won't be doing is inviting his 800 or so guests back for a nightcap, because Prague Castle has run out of booze. An audit carried out by the presidential office has found that the alcohol warehouse is practically empty, with significant volumes missing. Coming at the end of the hard-drinking Zeman's ten-year tenure, the report on the status of presidential properties also reveals problems related to procurement, forestry management and cash handling, and appears to pin them on two former managers. The audit did little, however, to deal with long-held suspicions regarding the activities of the Russia- and China-linked businessmen of Zeman's inner circle, among whom some detect a whiff of panic as the new administration prepares to sweep into the presidential office. That move will also reportedly be delayed, as Pavel has ordered additional security checks be undertaken. He has previously expressed concern the castle might be wiretapped.

Photo: Twitter Youth's suicide puts Polish state media under spotlight; anti-war disinformation campaign

Magdalena Filiks, an MP from the main opposition Civic Platform party, announced this week that her 16-year-old son had committed suicide in February, without giving further details. Yet observers were quick to remind people that state-public media, including Radio Szczecin and TVP Info, had simultaneously published information back in December that made it very easy to identify the boy as a past victim of a paedophile. The crime happened in 2020 and the sexual predator was a politician from the Civic Platform camp, who in the meantime has been sentenced to five years in prison, which he is currently serving. The identity of the victims was at that time protected, but Polish state media controlled...