CZECH REPUBLIC: Shaky Alliance Hopes to Govern

By Zoltán Dujisin Reprint | | Print |

Zoltán Dujisin

BUDAPEST, Jan 16 2007 (IPS) - With the Czech Republic well into its seven month without a government, caretaker Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek will seek parliamentary approval of his new cabinet this Friday. Yet his many enemies – the opposition, the President and even members of his own party – might prevent him from succeeding.

Topolanek leads the Civic Democrats (ODS), a neo-liberal party that won June’s legislative elections. His party arrived narrowly ahead of the governing social democrats led by former prime minister Jiri Paroubek.

The 10-million strong post-socialist republic failed to form a government as the June 2006 elections ended in a left-right draw.

On the left, the Social Democrats and the Communists obtained 100 deputies altogether, the same number shared by ODS, the People’s Party and the Greens on the right.

Having already lost a vote of confidence on a new government in October, failure to win confidence for a second consecutive time could mean Topolanek’s political death.

Czech President Vaclav Klaus hesitantly appointed the government led by Topolanek on Jan 9. Klaus, founder and honorary chairman of ODS, has always been at odds with the party’s current leader, and is displeased with his choice of partners.

“Even if this government goes through, it will be a very weak government,” predicts Daniel Hnizdo, fellow at Charles University in Prague. “It will be filled with disagreements, and I believe the only solution will be early elections,” he told IPS.

The new government declared its intention to lower taxes, introduce cash payments in health care, abolish “unnecessary” social benefits, increase the retirement age and promote the privatisation of important state companies.

But the coalition includes some ideological incompatibilities. The People’s Party, whilst more socially-oriented, is conservative and could clash with the more socially liberal Greens.

Disagreements have even appeared within the main party, the ODS. Its Prague branch feels Topolanek handed over one too many ministerial posts to its coalition partners.

In the 18-member cabinet, ODS will have nine seats although it is by far the strongest party in the coalition.

The Prague Civic Democrats are unhappy about strategic ministries such as the foreign and the finance and regional development ministries going to smaller coalition partners.

Pavel Bem, mayor of Prague and deputy chairman of ODS, has been the most vociferous critic of Topolanek, and looks likely to succeed him as head of the Civic Democrats should the Prime Minister resign.

Bem pressured Topolanek to agree on resigning as party chairman in case his government fails to win the lower chamber’s confidence vote. In that case, the constitution provides for a third attempt to form a cabinet.

Moreover, President Klaus is favourably inclined towards the mayor of Prague, who in a third attempt could reach an agreement with the Social Democrats, the option preferred by the President.

As mayor of Prague, Bem and the social-democrat Paroubek have a history of cooperation in the municipality which analysts say could be reproduced at the national level, either through a grand coalition or with social-democrat toleration of a right-wing government under agreed conditions.

Klaus is also keen on ensuring his re-election. The Czech President is elected by parliament and a more inclusive solution to the stand-off would put Klaus in a favourable light among the deputies.

Klaus’s antagonism towards Topolanek could be strongly felt when he opposed the new government’s appointment of Green Karel Schwarzenberg, a member of the nobility, as foreign minister.

“Czech interests can hardly be defended by someone who has one foot in Vienna,” said a statement by the Presidential secretariat. That statement alluded to Schwarzenberg spending over 40 years as an exile in Austria.

The Czech Republic and Austria have been at odds over the existence of a nuclear plant in Temelin, in south Bohemia in the Czech Republic, which ecologists and the Austrian government would like to see closed.

Schwarzenberg replied he did not know “whether the President thinks that an Austrian tank division would set out for Prague.” Coalition politicians stood by him.

The Greens forced coalition partners to sign a pact in which they agreed not to build additional nuclear reactors in Temelin, angering politicians who struggle for Czech energy independence.

Topolanek’s alliance with the Greens has also antagonised some in the business sector, as he had to make concessions limiting coal mining and introducing ecological taxes.

As if this was not enough, both the Social Democrats and the Communists are determined not to support the new cabinet. However, the coalition is placing its hopes on Milos Melcak, a deputy who defected from the Social Democrats last year.

Melcak, who claims the Social Democrats should simply become “a respectable opposition”, might enable the government to win confidence, but he also said the right-wing coalition should review its plans to cut on social expenditure if it wishes to survive.

“A defector might help, but either way it’s going to be a weak government, and most probably it won’t last long,” Hnizdo told IPS.