Karel Schwarzenberg died at the age of 85

This was announced by his party colleague, former Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek, on X, formerly Twitter. Schwarzenberg has been hospitalized in a Vienna hospital in recent days. According to the Internet portal “Echo24.cz”, Schwarzenberg died on Saturday.

“Karel Schwarzenberg has died. It was clear that it was approaching. Nevertheless, this is a blow. He was one of the most important and loving people in my life. May he rest in peace. The Czech Republic should be forever grateful to him for everything “What he selflessly did for them,” wrote Kalousek, who once co-founded the TOP 09 with Schwarzenberg.

Echo24.cz, citing a source from Schwarzenberg’s family, wrote that the politician had been in a critical condition and in artificial sleep for two days. “He died surrounded by his family,” the website also said.

• From the archive of December 10, 2022: Karel Schwarzenberg: A European celebrates his birthday

Schwarzenberg was flown to a hospital in Vienna a few days ago. “Ask the doctors why they moved me here. I don’t know. I don’t think there are more specialists here than in the Czech Republic. I guess it will be about the same, but here I’ll see I will also be able to see my children and grandchildren,” said Schwarzenberg, who spent a large part of his life in Vienna, at the time.

Schwarzenberg was head of Václav Havel’s presidential office after the “Velvet Revolution of 1989”. He later served as a senator and foreign minister. In 2009 he founded TOP 09 with Kalousek and was head of the party until 2015. Since then he has been its honorary chairman. In 2013 he ran for the office of president, but was defeated by Miloš Zeman in the runoff election.

For years, the descendant of the famous noble family was one of the most important figures on the Czech political scene. He is also known in this country for his pointed statements. Schwarzenberg was born on December 10, 1937 in Prague. A symbolic date, as he himself repeatedly emphasized, this is Human Rights Day. “And so perhaps it’s symbolic that I’ve worked in this area for a long time,” he said.

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