The lower house established the commission after it turned out that the centre-right government does not have sufficient support to push through its bill on state-church property settlement. Apart from the left-wing opposition, the government's bill has been criticised by three deputies for the senior ruling Civic Democratic Party (ODS), Vlastimil Tlusty, Juraj Raninec and Jan Schwippel, who have refused to support its current wording. The ODS "rebels" say that in calculating the compensation sum to go to churches for the property consfiscated by the communists, the government used incorrect data and has thus misled the Chamber of Deputies. Like the opposition, the three ODS deputies Czech CSSD to turn to court if govt makes committee changes ...
Czech rebel MP Tlusty is no ODS member - ODS leader Topolanek ...
Rift in Czech governing ODS widening ...
Chamber postpones discussion on settlement with Czech churches ...
Czech Communists' attempt to adjourn Lisbon treaty debate fails ... say the government bill treats churches more generously than other restitution claimants in the past. The Culture Ministry, headed by Vaclav Jehlicka (Christian Democrats, KDU-CSL), and other advocates of the bill oppose the criticism.
They say the government's calculations are correct and the proposed property settlement would be advantageous for the state. This view is shared by Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek (ODS), who, nevertheless, recently nodded to the "rebels'" demand that a lower house commission be established to thoroughly discuss the issue. Tlusty, Raninec and Schwippel, along with the opposition, repeatedly blocked the lower house's debate on the government's bill in the past weeks. The newly established commission is to have 12 members. The ODS and the senior opposition Social Democrats (CSSD) are each to have four members in it, the junior opposition Communists (KSCM) two, and the junior government KDU-CSL and Greens one each. Under the government bill, churches in the Czech Republic are to be returned one-third of their former property and receive compensation of 83 billion crowns for the rest. The compensation sum, to be paid out for the next six decades, would climb to 270 billion crowns including the interests. Tlusty and other critics maintain that the correct compensation value is 62 billion, as a result of which the overall sum would reach 204 billion crowns. ($1=15.775 crowns)
(Ceske Noviny)
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