Prague Mayor Bohuslav Svoboda (Civic Democrats, ODS) has pulled off a tactical move that insures that he will keep his post although the political marriage of convenience that got him there — the grand coalition with the center-left Social Democrats (ČSSD) has been disolved.
On Thursday morning Svoboda, a 67-year-old professional gynecologist whose major attribute was that he couldn’t be tied to any corruption scandals, met with the elected representatives of TOP 09, a fellow center-right party, without the knowledge of over half his ODS colleagues in the Prague assembly, and concluded a coalition deal under which he will keep the mayoral seat and TOP 09 will take the majority of seats on the 11-member Prague Council.
Svoboda and eight other ODS representatives and council members in Prague City Hall agreed a coalition with TOP 09, which has 26 seats in the 63-seat Prague municipal assembly, at around 9:00 a.m. The leader of the Prague branch of ODS, Boris Šťastný, and 10 other ODS representatives in the Prague assembly were not aware of the meeting between Svoboda and his supporters and the TOP 09 representatives.
Šťastný had arranged a meeting between the ODS and TOP 09 municipal representatives for Thursday afternoon, but arrived at City Hall to be presented with a fait accompli in the form of the concluded agreement. For the sake of party unity and preserving his influence in City Hall, Šťastný had little choice but to sign the coalition agreement and urge party colleagues to follow suit: Even without the support of Šťastný and his faction, Svoboda and his ODS faction, together with TOP 09, would have a clear majority with 35 seats in the 63-seat assembly.
‘Yes it was an ultimatum, and I have accepted this ultimatum’“Mr. Šťastný was not yet in work,” Svoboda confirmed to Czech Television (ČT), when asked if his rival had been informed of deliberations. “I can imagine that any member of the assembly wouldn’t sign something so exclusive that completely corresponds with the motion passed by the [ODS] regional council for us to enter a coalition with TOP 09.”
For his part, Šťastný admits he was faced with a done deal. “Yes, it was an ultimatum, and I have accepted this ultimatum. All the same, at this moment in time it’s not possible to risk this possible coalition arrangement falling through,” Šťastný told the server novinky.cz.
Former Czech National Bank (ČNB) governor and TOP 09’s candidate for mayor in the Prague regional elections in 2010, Zdeněk Tůma, told the press he had presented the proposed coalition agreement to Svoboda. “I handed the proposal to the Mayor because since a year ago he was a partner for me as an ODS leader. I presumed that if I gave him the proposal, he would discuss it with the other elected ODS representatives, which is what happened,” said Tůma, who is now a candidate to head the administration’s budget committee.
Follow the leader
ODS councilors Josef Nosek, Ivan Kabický, Alexandra Udženija and Radek Lohynský, and ODS assembly members Pavel Hurda, Jan Kalousek, Ondřej Pecha and Vladimír Schmalz signed the agreement together with Svoboda later on Monday morning. However, the head of ODS’ club of Prague representatives, Rudolf Blažek, Prague 6 Mayor Marie Kousalíková, and head of the City Hall sports committee, Petr Bříza reportedly refused. Kousalíková told Czech Television said she did so because a meeting of the ODS Prague regional council was not convened to discuss TOP 09’s meeting.
On Monday, at a meeting of the ODS Prague branch, Šťastný had proposed terminating ODS’ almost year-old coalition in Prague City Hall with the ČSSD. However, he did not inform Svoboda about his proposal beforehand, which led many observers to conclude his real aim was to remove Svoboda from power. Svoboda himself told journalists that he may be an obstruction to the plans of some fellow party members and specifically mentioned a tender for 10-year contract to dispose of Prague’s refuse and clean the city’s streets.
Šťastný is reported to have close ties with so-called ODS “godfathers”, the controversial lobbyists and businessmen Roman Janoušek and Tomáš Hrdlička, who are rumored to be the owners of the investment firm Cyprus-registered company Natland, the ownership of which is hidden in a web of other Cypriot-registered firms.
After multiple enquiries earlier this year, Czech Position learnt that Natland had acquired an 18.85 percent stake in the Prague municipal refuse disposal and cleaning firm Pražské služby (majority-owned by the Prague municipal administration) for an undisclosed sum.
Cutting off godfathers
‘What’s important for us is a genuine solution and cutting off the godfathers from sources of public grants.’ Both Prime Minister Petr Nečas (ODS) and TOP 09 chairman Karel Schwarzenberg, who is also the Czech foreign minister, have welcomed the new coalition agreement. “What’s important for us is a genuine solution and cutting off the godfathers from sources of public grants and the normal administration of the Czech capital,” Schwarzenberg told novinky.cz.
“[Svoboda] has proved himself to be very worthy, and I greatly appreciate how he initiated a genuine campaign against the rogues who were in the [Prague] administration and City Hall. He untangled himself from the godfathers and as such he’s the right mayor and we support him,” Schwarzenberg told Czech Television (ČT).
“I consider this to be the right step, and I’m sure this is good news for the inhabitants of Prague. Finally it’s an arrangement I supported last year following the regional elections in Prague,” Nečas said at a press conference on Thursday afternoon.
The new coalition quickly went about exercising its power by voting out at ČSSD members of the Prague council and replacing them with six TOP 09 representatives: Tomáš Hudeček and Pavel Richter were elected deputy mayors, and Václav Novotný, Lukáš Manhart, Helena Chudomelová and Eva Vorlíčková were elected as councilors.
The final allocation of responsibilities in the new council had not been confirmed on Thursday evening. Also on Thursday the committee for the refuse disposal “megatender” was terminated without a winner.
See related articles:
Prague mayor wants Natland to come clean on ownership
Prague Mayor says bid to unseat him, not ‘deadlock,’ behind death of ODS-ČSSD coalition
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