Leading Prague full-time is a demand mainly on us, the Pirates know. He refuses to budge together
While the winning coalition Spolu insists on its idea of a new leadership of the capital, the Pirates admit that they will be willing to compromise on the harsh conditions of cooperation. “It seems that they understood that they did not win the election,” commented Marek Benda from ODS on the recent negotiations. The participation of the defendant Jan Wolf in the council of the capital remains a point of contention. The parties will meet again tomorrow.
For the first time since the municipal elections, the winning coalition together with the Praha sebo movement gathered to discuss the new composition of the Prague City Hall. Tuesday’s meeting was the last so far and ended without an agreement. The representatives of Prague proposed to meet with the Pirates and Mayors next time, but the leader of the Citizen Democrats, Bohuslav Svoboda, refused. “We prefer a coalition on the government’s plan,” it repeated that it does not want itself in the council of the capital city of Prague.
At the same time, negotiations with her were part of the conditions of the Pirates, who have ruled together with Prague until now in the metropolis under their mayor Zdenek Hřibe. Even after the September elections, the parties of the former councilors together have more representatives than the coalition formed by ODS, TOP 09 and KDU-ČSL. However, the winners reject such a view and stick to the composition of the government of Petr Fiala from the ODS, where, in addition to Spolu, the Pirates and the Mayors are sitting.
The negotiations so far contradict the conditions that the Pirates had already given themselves before the elections. The third-strongest party in the new assembly demands that the winners get rid of several politicians who are not acceptable to it. From the beginning, he also criticizes that the likely mayor Svoboda refuses to give up his position as a member of parliament. In no case does Spolu want to dodge.
“Prague needs support from the government and it is necessary to negotiate it. The current mayor did not succeed in this, and I believe that we will be more successful. We are already working with the Ministry of Transport, Martin Kupka, on how to speed up the construction of the outer ring road,” Svoboda said about the cooperation with his party a colleague in the government.
Although the negotiating team continues to prefer various coalitions with Prague and Svoboda without cumulation, it admits that it is possible to negotiate. “The strict requirement that a person in the council devote himself 100% to work for Prague is primarily aimed at us. We cannot apply it 100% to our partners,” said one of the negotiators, Daniel Mazur. Acting mayor Hřib, on the other hand, called the inclusion of Prague only a suggestion.
They last met with the Together with the Pirates coalition on Monday and mainly discussed program priorities. They agreed, for example, on the need to complete the construction of traffic circles. Together, the representatives intend to audit city companies, the Pirates want to continue planting trees, developing urban housing and building a science and technology park. “We have a general agreement on most topics. If there is any devil, then in detail,” Mazur evaluated the meeting.
Prague council without criminal charges
Marek Benda, head of the Prague cell of the ODS, also left Monday’s meeting somewhat more satisfied than last week. He did not complain this time about the harsh conditions of the Pirates regarding the future members of the council. “Unlike the previous negotiation, I had the feeling that the Pirates understood that they did not win the election,” he stated, adding that he himself was not willing to accept any conditions.
The two main sides meet again tomorrow. Despite the careful retreat of the Pirates from their designated positions, one obstacle remains. The party insists that its representatives will not line up with prosecuted politicians. This concerns the public figure Jan Wolf, who was indicted in the case of the distribution of sports subsidies at the municipality. The piracy condition was approved in the election strategy by the Prague membership of approximately 280 people.
It will also approve a possible coalition agreement. If they do not approve it, the Pirates will not be able to join the city council. At the same time, it can be expected that she would reject cooperation with a criminally prosecuted politician.
“We can discuss the other conditions, but this would not pass the membership. We personally have nothing against Mr. Wolf, we recognize his qualifications in culture, but it is a matter of principle for us,” Mazur said, adding that a populist politician should work for the city in a different way than as Councilor.
But Wolf is not going to back down. He would give up his participation in the council only if he was invited to do so by the Spolu coalition. But she stands behind him. Svoboda justifies this, among other things, by the fact that the criticized People’s Party received 92,000 votes in the elections, while Mayor Hřib received only less than 75,000. “It is evident from the file that Wolf did not commit any intentional crime,” said the police leader of the Prague Citizen Democrats.
Tapping with the opposition YES
In 2019, Wolf sat on the municipal commission recommending sports projects for subsidies from the city. Now he is one of its eight indicted members who were supposed to prioritize selected projects under duress. Wolf refuses, saying he voted according to his conscience.
“At the time, I had no idea there could be anything wrong with it. I didn’t commit a knowing crime. If I dodged the Pirates now, it would mean anyone could be suspended for anything. I’m here for thousands of other politicians who could have something happen to them similar,” declared the long-time representative and councilor.
On Monday, the representatives of the coalition met together with the ANO movement, which finished second in the Prague elections and belongs to the opposition in national politics. As with Prague, they and the Pirates discussed with him about program intersections. Svoboda and ANO Prague leader Patrik Nacher praised the smooth progress of the negotiations. They disagreed only on social issues, such as free public transport, which ANO promised before the elections. They will meet again next week. Nevertheless, Spolu continues to assure that it is striving to copy the government coalition.
The ANO movement has not yet met for negotiations with anyone else. Nacher does not rule out that the meetings will start. “At the club, we will discuss the next step,” he said.
The idea that you won’t do this job for eight hours a day, as Bohuslav Svoboda looks like, is comical, says the outgoing mayor of Prague. | Video: Martin Veselovsky