Coalition in Prague in sight. Hřib is to be in charge of transport, Svoboda the mayor’s chair
The Prague coalition Spolu, Piráti and STAN are fine-tuning the final details of the coalition agreement, which they want to approve by the middle of the next meeting of the council in February. Negotiations for the city’s leadership on the government’s floor plan saw a significant shift as soon as the Pirates voted to withdraw from the pact with Prague mayor Jan Čižínský. The concessions of the Spolu coalition, which will end up in the council with only five seats, also helped.
Negotiations on the exchange at the Prague City Hall have been going on for four months, which is a historical record. But it seems that an agreement is already close. The teams of the coalition Together and Pirates with the STAN movement want to meet again on Tuesday evening at the municipality to agree on the final form of the coalition contract, including the program and competences of the councillors. The goal is to get everything done by the next council meeting on January 16, when the mayor and council members should be elected.
During this week, the contract is to be sent for approval by the party authorities. It will be the most difficult for the Pirates. Before signing, it was approved by members of the regional forum in a referendum, which should take about a week. It is preliminarily expected that the pirate forum should receive the finished contract already on Thursday, February 2, so according to the result of the vote, it should be known by February 9.
The parties have still not agreed on the competences of some of the councillors. For example, the pirates do not like the proposed councilor for city services and infrastructure, which would see them lose control over the operation of some city firms. The parties agreed on the following representation in the council: coalition Total 5 seats (2 ODS, 2 TOP 09, 1 People’s Party), STAN 2 and Pirates 4 councillors.
Mayor Bohuslav Svoboda from ODS is to be elected as the head of the council, who is also to be in charge of IT and security. The ODS is only supposed to have a councilor for finance, which according to behind-the-scenes information could be Alexandra Udženija, the former mayor of Prague 2. For TOP 09, MEP Jiří Pospíšil as councilor for culture, and his party colleague Michal Hroza can appear in the council. Lidovci will probably fill the seat of councilor for social policy Pavel Mareš.
The Pirates should have a councilor for legislation, the environment, and property, who could still be left with an electoral state. Zdeněk Hřib, as mayor, criticized Prague’s transport policy during the ODS period in particular. Hřib replaced Adam Scheinherr from Prague. Adam Zábranský could continue in the position for property.
The architect Petr Hlaváček should again sit on the council for the STAN movement, he was again in charge of territorial development, and the chairman of the movement’s Prague organization and teacher Antonín Klecanda as the councilor for education and sports.
mayor Bohuslav Svoboda (ODS)
councilor for finance Alexander Udzhenija (ODS)
councilor for culture Jiří Pospíšil (TOP 09)
Michal Hroza (TOP 09)
Pavel Mareš (KDU-ČSL)
councilor for the environment Jana Komrsková (Pirates)
councilor for transport Zdeněk Hřib (Pirates)
councilor for property Adam Zábransky (Pirates)
councilor for legislation and innovation Daniel Mazur (Pirates)
councilor for education Antonín Klecanda (STAN)
councilor for territorial development Petr Hlaváček (STAN)
The Spolu coalition won the municipal elections last fall, winning 19 mandates in the 65-member council. ANO ended second with 14 mandates. The third Pirates have 13 representatives and Praha Sobě 11 mandates. Five representatives belong to STAN, the sixth SPD won three mandates. The current coalition in Prague consists of the Pirates, Praha Sobě and the United Forces for Prague.