Discussion and conclusion

It is evident that economic diplomacy constitutes an essential part of the state policy. In today’s world everything can be considered interdependent and that especially applies for the international politics and the economies of states. That is why it is necessary for representatives of a state to work on improving relations with the business partners of the country, by mutual visits, bilateral agreements, promoting mutual trade or consensus and help in transnational affairs.

5.1. Covering the aims

The first aim of this research was:

Aim 1: To analyse what significance Miloš Zeman attached to economic diplomacy in his first term of office.

In the analysis of the speeches and interviews given by the Czech President Miloš Zeman, these four main themes emerged:

1) the further direction of the European Union, 2) the relationship between Russia and Europe, 3) development of economic relations with China,

4) the resolution of the migration crisis in Europe and terrorism.

While the resolution of migration crisis is not a topic of economic diplomacy, all the other themes are from the point of view of economic diplomacy significant. The European Union is a multilateral agreement necessary for Czech economic relations and Miloš Zeman seemed to be aware of that. His enforcement of a common fiscal policy, the continuation of integration and the adoption of the euro were positive steps of the Czech Republic towards creating conditions for the fulfilment of economic interests of the state, as Štouračová (2008) defines economic diplomacy at the macro level. However, the analysis also showed that Miloš Zeman gradually abandoned his words in the five years of presidency, and more and more focused on criticism. Instead, he emphasized on the development of relationships between the Czech Republic and Russia and China and promoting Russian interests in the Ukrainian crisis. Both Czech and foreign media describe his ‘heading East’ as disturbing while the Czech government often must distance itself from the President’s opinions, which makes the Czech Republic untrustworthy. As a result, the enumeration of state and official visits to the Czech Republic and by the Czech President abroad contains relatively few visits of the Western countries, his

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affection for Russia probably made it impossible for Zeman to look into the White House and the concerns about cooling relationships with Western countries seem valid (Aktuálně, 2017).

In summary, Miloš Zeman attaches great significance to the economic diplomacy in his office, although he may do more harm than good.

Aim 2: To discover whether his activities can be connected to any changes in international business activities of the Czech Republic.

In order to complete the second aim, it is necessary to recall the limitations of this research. With the great width economic diplomacy has, as described in the Literature review, as well as the number of actors it includes, a single personality can hardly have a measurable impact on international trade and investments. However, this work is based on the assumption, that a person can have a significant ideological influence when he or she has strong beliefs and memorable expression.

From the foreign trade and investment figures analysed in the previous chapter, it does not seem likely that Miloš Zeman’s actions in the first term of office caused an increase in the foreign direct investments in the Czech Republic or an increase in the trade turnover.

Paradoxically, during his presidency the trade turnover with Russia declined. In comparison

with France, even though Zeman claimed that Russia was ‘ten times more important for Czech businessmen’ than France, the figure below presents opposite trend.

Figure 5: Turnover in trade with Russia and France 2013 - 2016 (mil. USD) 13717

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7413

6506 12641

13802

12376 12948

2013 2014 2015 2016

Russia France

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On the other hand, his statements about Ukraine theoretically could have a different impact:

Figure 6: Turnover in trade with Ukraine 2013 – 2016 (mil. USD)

Overall, the attention that Zeman has devoted to the two countries, Russia and China, is disproportional to how those countries are important for the Czech Republic economically.

While China is the second biggest exporter to the Czech Republic, Chinese investments in the Czech Republic are not significant. The trend of distancing the West seems much closer than China's large investments in the Czech Republic or any significant positive change to the structure and balance of Czech trade.

Aim 3: To examine whether the public is concerned about the impact of the Czech President Miloš Zeman on Czech economic diplomacy.

The interviews proved that the public is concerned about the impact of the Czech President Miloš Zeman on Czech economic diplomacy. The themes appearing in the interviews showed that part of the public is very unsatisfied with the role of Miloš Zeman in foreign business relations. According to the Interviewees 1,2 and 3 the President does not contribute to a clear foreign policy, moreover, he contradicts the position of government. The Interviewees were of the opinion that Zeman does not have a vision in the foreign policy, that he has unstable opinions and also, that he is in a conflict of interests. While Interviewee 4 appreciated that Miloš Zeman promotes Czech business interests abroad, other participants think that he promotes his own interests instead.

In the question of acting beyond the presidential powers, Interviewee 1 expressed this opinion:

2855

2157

1462

1705

2013 2014 2015 2016

Trade with Ukraine - Turnover in mil. USD

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“He is known for his interpretation of the Constitution as he needs it, he absolutely does not respect the constitutional habits, he does it in his own ways and expects everyone to respect it, and who doesn’t, receives indiscriminate attacks from the President. And because he cannot be re-elected anymore, he is irrevocable and has no responsibility to anyone and anything and behaves accordingly. The same applies to his spokesman Ovčáček, chancellor Mynář etc. The constitutional habits should be respected, even if they are not written, this way of forcing change of them is bad, there is really a lot of events which are on the edge or even beyond it. The presidential powers should have changed along with the implementation of direct election of the president, but no one expected the President to use the unclear interpretations in the Constitution in this way. “

And in the response to the question whether he sees Zeman as a pro-European president, the Interviewee noticed the change in Zeman’s attitude towards the European Union and the position of the Czech Republic in Europe:

“Well... if by Europe you mean Russia, then probably yes. Otherwise from the moment he raised the EU flag at the Castle he made a U-turn, I don’t see any activity towards the EU anymore, in the beginning he wanted the Czech Republic to adopt the euro as soon as possible, now he doesn’t want it at all... “

Finally, Interviewee 3 evaluated the impact of Zeman on economic relations using these words:

“In the direction of the East he definitely wants to have an influence, and maybe there is a bit positive impact in the direction of China for example, but there have been completely different results than promised, then I think that on the other side towards the West that the many controversial steps he made might be a problem in the future, that some foreign investors might think that when they see that we are here thinking of leaving the EU, that may discourage them from investing in the Czech Republic.“

To conclude, the worries about the future position of the Czech Republic and the role of President Zeman in it are present.

5.2. Answering the research question The research question was:

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“What role does the current Czech President Miloš Zeman play in the economic diplomacy of the Czech Republic and does he have a positive or negative impact (if any) on Czech foreign business relations?”

It is apparent from the three different kinds of evidence this research presented, that questioning the role of the Czech President Miloš Zeman in the economic diplomacy is relevant.

The speeches and interviews the President gave were controversial, the President sometimes deliberately opposed the Czech government, which is supposed to determine the foreign policy.

His attitude seemed to harm the relations of the Czech Republic with some states while it did not fundamentally improve the relations with the states that the President favoured. As a result, it is relevant to state that Miloš Zeman’s impact on the Czech foreign business relations in the first five years of his presidency was rather negative.

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