Schillerová and Milada Horáková: row over a budget speech phrase

Finance Minister Alena Schillerová, defending the draft state budget in the Chamber of Deputies, said she stood “with my head held high.” The phrase caused outrage on social media, where many saw it as a reference to Milada Horáková, but the minister denies any such allusion.

What Schillerová said

“This is an honest budget, without tricks, without hidden off-budget loans, without inflated revenues and without artificially understated spending. In other words, it is a fair balance that hides nothing from you, dear deputies, or from the citizens of our country. That is why I stand here with my head held high,” the minister said in her speech to the deputies.

It was these last words that social media users picked up on, and the supposed connection to Milada Horáková upset some of them. Horáková, a victim of a Communist show trial, used similar words in a letter to her family on June 27, 1950. It was her last letter before her execution, carried out early that same morning.

“The birds are waking up — dawn is breaking. I am going with my head held high — one must be able to lose as well. It is no disgrace. Even an enemy does not lose respect if he is truthful and honest. People fall in battle, and what is life if not a struggle. Farewell! I am only and entirely yours,” she wrote.

“It is an ordinary Czech expression”

A video of Schillerová saying similar words is circulating on social media, and commenters have showered the politician with abuse. In a written reply to journalists, however, the minister denied that she had referred to Horáková.

“There was no deliberate reference to Milada Horáková. The expression ‘to stand with one’s head held high’ is an ordinary Czech turn of phrase, with which I wanted to express my conviction that I can defend the proposed state budget with a clear conscience. I therefore consider any comparison of this statement with the tragic fate of Milada Horáková inappropriate,” she wrote.

Some opposition politicians nonetheless criticized the minister. TOP 09 caucus chair Jan Jakob accused her of using Horáková’s words to defend the budget. At the same time, his party colleague Ondřej Müller used the same expression a year ago, after he failed to be elected to the Chamber of Deputies. The minister’s speech also angered KDU-ČSL deputy Jan Bartošek.

As for the budget itself, Schillerová added that she would have liked a lower deficit herself, but called it “record-breaking in investment and strongly focused on growth.”

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz