Prague has a new coalition. ODS will rule with TOP 09
The ODS and TOP 09 will rule in Prague. Bohuslav Svoboda will continue to be the mayor, the civic democrats still have two squares and two councilors left. TOP 09 will have a slight majority in the council – it will get two squares and four councilors. The new composition has already been approved by the Prague council. The current coalition of the ODS and the ČSSD at the Prague City Hall broke up this week. However, the circumstances of the negotiation of a new leadership in the metropolis confirmed that there are contradictions within the Prague ODS.
Only the part of the ODS around the mayor concluded the coalition agreement in the morning on the proposal of TOP 09. The second party faction, which is connected to the head of the Prague ODS Boris Šťastný, began to join them under the pressure of circumstances. According to Šťastny, he was not immediately informed about the agreement and called Svoboda’s way of acting non-standard.
“The offer is of a very short-term nature, because TOP 09 wants to act quickly. He is truly exclusive for ODS because he keeps the post of mayor,” Svoboda said in the morning. “I can’t imagine that anyone would not want to support an agreement with such an exclusive offer for ODS,” he added.
“It is not quite possible to wait for the end of the existing coalition agreement, Prague is in a situation where it cannot afford it,” said Zdeněk Tůma regarding the agreement for TOP 09. Tuma, who was the post-election TOP 09 candidate for mayor, is to become the head of the finance committee and will have an important say in drawing up the budget.
Only the mayor of Prague 6 Marie Kousalíková (ODS) did not sign the contract. But she will support it if the regional council approves it, she said.
Tomáš Hudeček and Pavel Richter will occupy the positions of deputies for TOP 09. Helena Chudomelová, Lukáš Manhart, Eva Vorlíčková and Václav Novotný were elected in place of ordinary councilors for TOP 09. Deputy Ivan Kabický and Josef Nosek and councilors Aleksandra Udženija and Radek Lohynský remained for the ODS, but some of them will have their competence changed. The council will thus have a full 11 members, as required by law.
According to Svoboda, the new council of the capital should meet already on Tuesday. The 30-day notice period of the coalition agreement with the ČSSD would no longer apply.
Freedom is provided by Untimely, Happy is out of tune
Happy about the progress of the creation of the new Prague council of discord. He expected the official negotiations to take place only in the afternoon. According to Šťastný, Svoboda’s separate meeting with TOP 09 was an unprecedented step, which he wants to resolve in the party bodies. Šťastný considers submission of the agreement from the mayor for signature as a certain ultimatum.
Prime Minister Petr Nečas has already stood up for Svoboda, who approved his approach. “Concluding a coalition agreement with TOP 09 at the Prague municipality is a correct and reasonable step,” said the prime minister.
Schwarzenberg praised Svoboda for “dismantling with the godfathers”
The chairman of TOP 09, Karel Schwarzenberg, in response to today’s developments at the Prague municipality, said that finally a situation has arisen at the town hall that “somewhat corresponds to the election results”.
Foreign Minister Schwarzenberg added before the journalists that his TOP 09 supports Svoboda for the position of mayor. “He proved himself very well and I respect him very much, because he really started the fight against the evils that were in the municipality and the town hall. He messed with the godfathers, therefore he is the right mayor and therefore we will support him,” said the leader of TOP 09.
According to the president, the situation got out of hand
President Václav Klaus, who previously formed the ODS and ČSSD coalition at the Prague City Hall, said today that he was surprised by its collapse.
“It seems to me that someone has embarked on a certain project that is getting out of hand, and now I see it very vaguely. I understand that the people of Prague must frown on this. I’m frowning too,” the president said on Novinky.cz, where he discussed with readers on the internet server.