Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek's address to the Chamber of Deputies, 22 October 2008

Esteemed MPs, I am very happy that the speech that Jiří Paroubek just gave was broadcast on television. I have heard a similar speech. It was in June 2006 after elections to the Chamber of Deputies. I hope that those voters who Jiří Paroubek marked as stupid also heard the speech.

I could - as every prime minister of every government does - present a number of the cabinet's successes, quote our programme announcement and show how this government's specific policies are important for citizens in this or that area. I will not do that. I will not speak about specific steps, which at the end of the day always have an alternative, for better or worse. I will not even speak about numbers; yesterday's discussion on the budget showed that the opposition knows how to think things up. No one today is interested in arguments. I will name only a couple of fundamental, rather philosophical points, which show in good conscience how this three-party coalition is irreplaceable here and now. I will not name in longwinded fashion the reasons why it should remain. I will tell you 7 reasons why it cannot and must not leave.

1. This cabinet is the only one that can guarantee our country an unambiguous anchorage in Western Euro-Atlantic civilisation, and is the only bulwark against a possible eastward tilt in foreign policy. It is the guarantee of alliance commitments, is the guarantee of the building and strengthening of security ties, the guarantee of a calm future for ourselves as well as the next generation.

2. This cabinet protected our country from the harder impacts of the financial crisis because it stabilised the public budget and set a firm border for the unsustainable growth in state spending. Only this cabinet is today a guarantee of a continuation of this policy, which has gained recognition from both the European Commission and the OECD. Every appearance by a leading politician such as Jiří Paroubek and his speech today spreads panic and alarming rumors. This crisis is a crisis of confidence. And financial injections alone will not be enough to renew confidence. And we do not have the euro today only thanks to you, Bohuslav Sobotka and you, Jiří Paroubek.

3. This cabinet is the only one that can guarantee that our presidency of the European Union will not end in disgrace. We are the first government to carry out an active European policy on all levels, from ministry officers through diplomats and ministers up to meetings of the European Council. Today we are considered a country that is contributing to finding solutions, contributing to finding consensus. We are not sitting in a corner; we are not those who simply approve all proposals without saying a word. Because of this, we can influence European Union policy in favour of our citizens in greater proportion than the Czech Republic's size would merit. The Czech Republic's instability after the fall of the cabinet could lead the European Union to a solution that would be unprecented.

4. This cabinet is the only one that the will today to enact necessary reforms even at the cost of losing its own popularity. This work is beginning to bear fruit. But if it were to be left incomplete, the favourable impacts of reform would soon be exhausted. And the next reformers would most likely be born only after several years of difficult crisis.

5. On the Czech political scene, only this cabinet is thinking beyond the next election period. All of our steps are leading to a single goal. They lead to this country making far better use of its potential. We are strengthening families, supporting education, science and research, motivating people toward responsible behaviour. We are creating the conditions for the Czech Republic to regain its place in the elite group of best-performing economies; so that this is a country of educated people, a country with a high quality of life, which does not export cheap labour, but rather ideas and high technology.

6. This government is a cabinet that does not decide on the basis of arithmetic, but on the basis of consensus. For the first time in the history of the Czech Republic, this government is showing that differences in programmes can be resolved through debate, not through steamrollering. That even with a heterogenous makeup and fragile support, solutions can be found that favour all citizens.

7. Lastly, this cabinet is the only one that can manage to prevent chaos for the remainder of the election period, the only one that can manage to prevent a reasonable government policy from being replaced by a tangle of personal ambitions, where a political program would be replaced by power manipulations, the politics of the Prague gallery and the methods of ransom. It is the only cabinet at all that can guarantee that some sort of policy and some sort of program can be realised; that a period does not come of either instability or cadaverish stability with some form of hidden or open grand coalition.

Seven is a lucky number. I have told you seven reasons why this cabinet is, in my opinion, irreplaceable. Seven guarantees that citizens would lose if it were to fall. The decision is yours. Thank you for your attention and for quiet in the hall.