Stormy Prague 1. The recalled Čižinský was replaced by Hejm, and they will be prosecuted in the council
Prague 1 has a new mayor, at the stormy meeting of the council, after the dismissal of Pavel Čižinský (Prague 1 himself), the current first deputy mayor Petr Hejma (STAN) from the group We, who live here (STAN, TOP 09, KDU-ČSL, Citizens’ Initiative) . This grouping remains the only one from the current coalition. Prague 1 itself, Pirates and Green for first place go into opposition.
The actions of the deputies were tumultuous, the current and the new coalition came to support a large number of people who filled the hall in Žofín and did not refrain from speaking out. When speaking at the microphone, the old settlers clearly predominated, talking about how difficult life is in the center. At the same time, they thanked the current coalition for improving the situation.
The new coalition agreement was signed by the representatives of the parties just two hours before the beginning of the council meeting, which elected the current deputy mayor Petr Hejma (STAN) for support of ODS, ANO and the group We, who live here (STAN, TOP 09, KDU-ČSL, Citizens’ Initiative). ).
“There was a total destruction and collapse of the office due to poor personnel policy and poor management of the town hall,” said Hejma, according to whom the mayor Pavel Čižinský (Prague 1 himself) is over.
“Personnel policy was conducted in such a way that all officials, including the most loyal, experienced and best, were treated with absolute distrust. They were constantly monitored and caught on plums. Apparently the goal was to import some good policy of Prague 7, which was to teach us “I eat with cutlery and wipe my mouth with a napkin. But I think there are plenty of old settlers who can manage Prague 1 on their own,” said Hejma.
However, his evaluation was completely different from how Čižinský saw the whole situation. He believes that Hejma is just trying to get the “old order” back to the town hall of the first part of the city. According to him, the deputy mayor has long blocked efforts to cut himself off from the past – for example, from some officials who are suspected of going to the former town hall management.
“I am afraid that they are doing this in order to preserve the old structure for the office, which we have not yet managed to dismantle, and at the same time protect the interests of various entrepreneurs who have unfavorable contracts with the town hall,” says Čižinský. He claims that the new coalition will continue the started projects and there is nothing true about breaking its ties with the capital – for example, regarding the return of trams to Wenceslas Square.
Unconventional coalition
However, the newly formed coalition is relatively strange, for several reasons. The first is that in it, the movement We live here is coming together with the parties that have ruled the city center in recent years and against which the movement has strongly defined itself in the elections.
The second peculiarity is that the YES movement co-rules with the parties at the town hall, which at the national level have the most demarcation of the movement and Prime Minister Andrej Babiš – TOP 09, STAN and ODS. “At the municipal level, it’s not about the parties, but about specific people,” Hejma explains.
“We all know each other, we know our quality, our good and bad sides. We know each other well enough that we can work together regardless of the struggles that take place at the national level,” adds Hejma. In the previous election period, TOP 09, the ODS and the CSSD ruled together in Prague 1.
The last thing that will make the new coalition different from most town halls in the Czech Republic is the fact that a fighter politician will sit on the city council. A large part of the former town hall management is currently being prosecuted by the police for selling more than twenty city flats well below cost.
In total, according to the investigators, almost forty politicians and officials should have caused damage in excess of 41 crowns, although they reject many doubts. Until now, these politicians were only representatives, but now some of them will become councilors.
However, according to Hejma, this is not important either. He refers to the fact that the prosecuted politics knows and trusts them personally. “They were charged on the basis of voting in the council. But they voted on the basis of documents prepared by the petitioner and which have been supervised by lawyers. That, in my opinion, is not a reason to stop considering them to be civilly innocent,” Hejma concluded.
Who will be responsible for what?
According to the signed coalition agreement, the division of responsibilities at Prague 1 City Hall will be as follows:
mayor Petr Hejma (STAN) – territorial development, security, public relations, investments, public procurement, Na Františku Hospital
first deputy mayor Petr Burgr (KDU-ČSL) – culture, sports, civil society, social issues and healthcare
Deputy Mayor Eva Špačková (ODS) – education and development of playgrounds
councilor Michal Caban Citizens’ initiative – cultivation and maintenance of monument care
councilor Richard Bureš (ODS) – transport, environment, informatics and smart cities
councilor Jan Votoček (TOP 09) – finance, management, privatization, housing policy, grant policy
councilor Karel Grabein Procházka (YES) – tourism, support of trade, business and services, market rules, use of non-residential premises