“There have been enough experiments in Prague,” says SPOLU Prague leader Bohuslav Svoboda in an interview with PrahaIN.cz
photo: Jakub Mračno, PrahaIN.cz/Leader of the Together for Prague coalition, Associate Professor Bohuslav Svoboda at a press conference.
Bohuslav Svoboda, the leader of the SPOLU coalition for Prague, has already tried out for the post of mayor. Years ago, he was dismissed from it when he wanted to “make a turn with the godfathers and clean up Prague”. Today he returns, according to his words, full of energy and, moreover, with a great team, with which he wants to shake up Prague. According to him, it “barely runs at thirty percent”. And that should change under his leadership. You can read about the plans and needs of the capital in an interview given by PrahaIN.cz.
You have already tried the mayoral contribution, is it any different from your second attempt to your first candidacy?
Just like years ago, I want to help Prague. Our city is slowly but surely becoming an open-air museum. It doesn’t build. Key transport structures that have really helped the city are simply being ignored. Their construction has not progressed in the last 10 years. But I know we can do it. After all, under previous governments, the ODS built the most key buildings. So I have somewhere to follow up.
ODS was a very vocal and visible opposition in the last election period. How do you personally evaluate the performance of your representatives and the ODS club in the last four years?
Despite the fact that we, as the winners of the elections, were bypassed and ended up in the opposition, in my opinion, we fulfilled its role conscientiously and properly. And I believe that we have been ostracized and ignored by the ruling coalition. It was always such an unwritten custom that even the opposition had its representative in the control bodies of city companies. But the new coalition, despite all its proclamations and promises, did not keep it. Perhaps, if so, we are not now witnessing the biggest corruption case in the history of the Prague transport company, for which the Pirates and Praha Sobě bear political responsibility.
With what vision does TOGETHER for Prague go into the municipal elections, and what are the most pressing problems of the capital according to Bohuslav Svoboda, citizen, Prague resident?
There are really a lot of problems. There is absolute chaos in Prague traffic. Drivers are standing in queues due to dug-up roads and uncoordinated closures of up to 80 at a time. Bicycle lanes are being painted in absolutely senseless places, and the only major traffic reconstruction – the repair of the Barrandovský bridge – was delayed by a full 27 days in two and a half months. another problem is undoubtedly housing. Our city lacks 30,000 apartments. Pirates boast a record number of permitted buildings. But the truth is that the city district, not the municipality, gives permission for construction. And most constructions are permitted by city districts under the leadership of mayors from the ODS. I think that there have been enough experiments in Prague, and it is time to return to the professional management of the city, and the TOGETHER coalition has exactly such a team.
Professionally, in addition to politics, you are involved in medicine. Is it possible to use expertise and experience from medicine somehow in politics?
As a doctor, you must be able to make the right decision for the benefit of the patient. This also applies to me as a policy, when decisions are always made in favor of the people of Prague.
In Prague, the mayor traditionally has “his” responsibility in addition to managing the city itself. What area of urban politics would be yours?
First of all, I want to see that the city circuit really moves. I am already cooperating with the Ministry of Transport, Martin Kupka, and we are solving how to speed up its construction and thereby get passing cars out of our city. I would also like to see that the construction of new apartments starts, so that housing is available for young people and families with children. And then I have one more wish, as mayor I would like to unite, not divide and arrogantly ignore the needs of city districts and their residents, as the current mayor Hřib is doing.
In the latest analyzes of electoral preferences published on CT, SPOLU can expect an electoral gain of up to 38 percent for Prague. Are you surprised by the level of preference, or is it a reflection of the course in national politics?
I’m not hiding that we would be happy if our result started with a three. But ultimately, the number itself is not that significant. Our main goal is to win the elections so that we are able to form a city council and take immediate responsibility for the government in Prague. That is our goal.
What election result do you realistically expect? Can you imagine another four years in the opposition?
The question should be whether Prague can manage another four years under the leadership of the Pirates and Prague Sobě. Our city is already running at 30 percent today. That’s terribly little, and I have to change that.
Do your coalitions already have post-election negotiation strategies ready? Can you already say with whom you could imagine a coalition in the leadership of Prague, and where, on the contrary, cooperation would not be possible?
Unlike Praha Sobě and Mr. Čižínský, we have some principles and we do not go along with everyone who keeps us in power. I exclude cooperation with extremist parties. That is, with the communists and the SPD. I see the ideal coalition in the municipality as a combination of parties that will make it possible to implement the most of our program.
What do you think the future mayor should do with the current one?
The mayor should mainly connect, Mr. Hřib does not do that. They must solve problems in cooperation with city districts. Stop thinking about the best way to take a photo on a social network, but focus on how to make Prague a prosperous modern European metropolis and, at the same time, solve the real problems that plague the people of Prague.
Some people blame the ODS for often defining themselves against the current leadership in Prague, similar to what is the case with ANO at the national level. Is it an electoral strategy or a real antagonism between the traditional concept of ODS politics and the activist approach of the Pirates or Prague Sob?
These are real differences. Pirates and Prague show themselves that they can’t lead a city. You can’t help with the missing apartments, they can’t solve the traffic situation, in IT and smart technology, Prague fell by 59 under her leadership! We have to change all that. But we can only do it TOGETHER. We have a great team of experienced mayors and experts and we are ready to improve Prague TOGETHER.
The Pirates and Praha Sobá like to highlight your work in the parliament, the representative office and several committees. How do you personally perceive the issue of cumulation of functions? In the event of the election of the mayor, would you consider, for example, the composition of the parliamentary mandate, or do you consider simultaneous activity in both municipal and high-level politics to be more of an advantage?
I don’t have to guess what the mayor’s job entails. I have had this experience before and know exactly what it entails. The position of mayor is full-time. And I’m ready to go back to full service. I am resigning from the position of head, just as I am resigning from the post of chairman of the Health Committee. It is funny that the accumulation of functions is criticized by Jan Čižinský, for example, who at one time held up to 15 functions at once and wants to be both mayor and mayor.
Can you guess how you will shuffle the cards of the Dosimeter case, which broke out less than half a year before the elections?
The Dosimeter case showed that the current city leadership’s portrayal of a kind of anti-corruption coalition, as they liked to describe themselves in the media, is completely wrong. I firmly believe that the voters perceive that not only the STAN movement represented by Mr. Hlubuček, but the entire municipal coalition is responsible for the fact that, for the first time in history, the Office for the Detection of Organized Crime and the Police of the Czech Republic intervened in the councilor’s office. For more than two years, I hope that unconsciously, the Pirates and Praha Sobje covered up these criminal practices. They are the ones who bear the unequivocal political responsibility for the current state of affairs, and I hope that the voters will take this into account in a few days.
Do you perceive or want any other scandals from competing parties that could affect the competition?
It is scandalous how Prague is run. In addition to the Dosimeter, we also have the case in Lysolajy, in which the chairman of the Praha Sobě movement, Jan Čižinský, together with the Pirates and STAN, deprived Prague of land intended for the construction of a house for the elderly and social housing, with a loss for Prague that could reach up to 100 million million crowns. And it seems really paradoxical to me that they are the ones now thinking that they are the guarantee that they will not sell city property at a disadvantage. They blame others and pretend they would never do it. I personally consider it unacceptable that Prague should continue to lose valuable plots of land that could provide affordable housing for the elderly, families with children or young families, as well as civic amenities and greenery. We will not accept mine.
How will TOGETHER for Prague deal with the current energy crisis? Do you see any “communal” solution for the people of Prague in this difficult situation, or do you think the crisis can only be solved at the state level?
The government is solving the energy crisis. But Prague also has an opportunity to help. I would expect that with winter approaching and the economic and energy crisis deepening, we will already have a clear plan on the table from Mayor Hřiby and his councilors on how Prague can help those in need. So far, however, we have only witnessed the uncontrolled management of city companies in preparation for this crisis. We, as a coalition, solve it TOGETHER. We have already presented our proposal and, unlike Hřib’s coalitions, we have not forgotten the single parents and the elderly, and we have not left over 350,000 vulnerable Prague citizens without help. Our next goal is the energy self-sufficiency of our city. We have a plan to ensure the change of energy sources to low-emission, renewable and decentralized, and we are able to fulfill it.
Do you have a purely personal theme, something you’d like to leave behind as your “mayoral legacy”?
For me, the legacy is to make Prague prosperous, a self-sufficient, green and modern city that no longer has fatal problems with transport and housing. And ideally with the position of the Vltava Philharmonic.
If you had to sum up in one sentence why voters should vote TOGETHER for Prague, what would it sound like?
During last year’s parliamentary elections, the people of Prague made it clear with their votes that they want right-wing solutions and prefer parties that provide them with this solution. When compiling the program, we therefore relied on the experience of our municipal politicians. We have mayors, deputy mayors and councilors in almost all city districts. And apart from the fact that they are doing a great job there and their districts are flourishing, they are the ones who know very well what troubles the citizens of Prague and what they would like to change. There is no other party like this experience.