Prague will waive the fees for kindergarten, social group, school lunches and clubs in elementary art schools for families at risk. It will also contribute to housing for some households and personal assistance to disabled people.

The South Bohemian Region will help low-income families with the payment of clubs for children and at-risk seniors with housing costs.

The capital allocated a total of 800 million crowns for aid. Support for children will be available from September, and for housing from January until the end of next year.

The South Bohemian Region has allocated 250 million crowns for aid, but it is counting on a 50 percent co-participation of municipalities and cities for housing support. The aid project will run from September to January.

The reasons why other regions do not take similar steps are essentially the same. The regions are afraid that due to the current situation, they will no longer have enough money in their budget for heating and lighting in the schools, medical facilities and social services that they are the founders of.

The state should help

Therefore, they do not have the means for such social support. According to some governors, social assistance is the task of the state, not the regions.

“I can’t imagine that in some regions people would be entitled to some benefits and not in others. In my opinion, the Czech Republic is a unitary state, which means that this social legislation should be the same, and it should not matter if a person is from South Bohemia, Pardubice or another region,” said Pardubice governor Martin Netolicky (ČSSD).

Prague, however, objects that its actions do not replace state aid and that assistance with submitting applications for state social assistance benefits will be part of it.

“The measures are not meant to replace state aid, but to complement it appropriately. Because of the control mechanisms of the state support system, a number of people look like they are not entitled to it,” said Vít Hofman, spokesman for the Prague municipality.

According to experts, it is certainly not against the constitution or other laws for regions to decide on their own social policy.

“The law does not completely define what the regions are not supposed to do, but the regions know the residents and their reactions better than the center, of course,” said public social policy expert Martin Potůček from the Faculty of Social Sciences of Charles University.

Iva Vokurková

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