By Zoltán Dujisin
BUDAPEST, Jan 25 2007 (IPS)

It took nearly eight months for the Czechs to come out with a government, and once they did the media has baptized it as “a political farce” and a “freak show”.

The Jan. 19 parliamentary session represented a second attempt to win a confidence vote for new Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, whose proposed government was rejected by the lower chamber last October.

The neo-liberal Civic Democrats (ODS), the Greens and the Christian Democrats only had 100 deputies in the 200-member lower chamber, but the intentional absence of two Social Democrat (CSSD) deputies allowed the government to survive a confidence vote.

The CSSD and the Communists also enjoyed a 100 deputy support following the elections, but in the course of the following months deputies Michal Pohanka and Milos Melcak left the CSSD deputies’ group after alleging pressure and intimidation from the higher echelons of the party.

Social Democrat opposition leader Jiri Paroubek says the recent confidence vote is a sign of political corruption and dishonesty, adding the cabinet had been built on blackmail, fraud and treason.

Pohanka and Melcak shield themselves by claiming they manage to include some of their social-democratic goals in the government programme, insisting they had served the “higher aim” of ending the political crisis in the country.

But the influential Czech newspaper Hospodarske noviny has called the left-right stalemate that followed the June 2006 parliamentary vote in this country of 10 million “the longest post-election anarchy in Europe’s modern history,” and analysts predict further political instability.

Relying simply on two defectors, “the government will have problems to push through major reforms because it lacks the necessary majority,” political analyst Jiri Pehe told IPS. “Even if it stays for four years, it won’t be able to do much.”

The new cabinet’s policy statement is said to resemble a patchwork of the three parties’ programmes. “The government is internally not very coherent as it was created for tactical reasons,” Pehe said, “so its chances of surviving for more than one year stand at 50 percent.”

Telling of the little trust the new government enjoys, Czech President Vaclav Klaus expects the government to open way for early elections. “I cannot imagine this government being able to implement any fundamental reforms given the nature of the support it has,” the President said.

Coalition parties have agreed that if the government’s reform intentions are obstructed, early elections could indeed come. But even then there is the danger of parliament not reaching the necessary majority, making it “very difficult to recall this government,” Pehe told IPS.

Independent political analysts insist a better solution would have been a reform-minded grand coalition between ODS and CSSD. A coalition agreement had been attempted but ODS eventually broke negotiations under obscure circumstances.

Topolanek says he will discuss government proposals with the opposition in spite of what he called the Social Democrats’ refusal to cooperate with his government.

The Social Democrats say they will not insist on a zero-toleration policy which their opponents deployed when the left was in power, but warn the new government’s plans will increase prices, empty the public budget and benefit only the rich.

The new cabinet intends to decrease taxes, possibly implementing a flat tax, introduce payments in the health care system, increase retirement age and abolish certain social benefits.

But it is not only the unreliability and internal conflicts in the coalition that are casting a shadow over the coalition. There are growing concerns that this government will be associated with corrupt practices.

The Christian Democrats’ chairman and Deputy Prime Minister Jiri Cunek is at the centre of a last-minute corruption scandal. The police are investigating the origin of 18,000 euros deposited in his bank five years ago during his time as mayor of Vsetin, a town east of Prague.

Cunek claims he was not bribed and that the money represents his lifetime savings he had in cash, but police have already asked the Senate to strip Cunek of his parliamentary immunity and allow for his criminal prosecution.

Cunek was already under public attack over the forceful eviction of Roma inhabitants from his town last year.

Moreover the Social Democrats are raising doubts over the rebel deputies’ claims that their support of the right-wing government derives from purely programmatic concessions.

Paroubek argues there are signs indicating “suspicious behaviour” by the two deputies who in previous months had vowed not to support a right-wing government. Rebel deputy Pohanka had even assured his “heart beats on the left side.”

The Social Democrats now call on the deputies to resign their seats and disclose their current property situation. The party says it is willing to monitor the property situation of Melcak and Pohanka for the next 10 years, and that it will place criminal complaints over suspicion of corruption.

Pohanka and Melcak deny all accusations and assure they have not promised support for any of the government’s future actions, but the opposition insists a secret clause in their deal with the government guarantees their support throughout the cabinet’s entire mandate.

“This is absolutely not a good start for the government,” Pehe told IPS. “One of its features was that it wanted to distance itself from corruption, and introduce a new political culture.”

According to a recent Transparency International report, the Czech Republic is among the most corrupt countries in the European Union. (END/IPS/EU/IP/CU/ZD/SS/07)

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