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Monday, 12 September 2016 Issue 130 l newsstand price CZK 24/¤ 1 l www.e15.cz
Blue zones: an urban fairytaleSelf-satisfied car owners enjoying parking restrictions should beware an unhappy endingtop story pages 8–9
Revering ČáslavskáOlympic gold-winning gymnast crushed for her 1968 Prague Spring support passes awayprofile pages 12–13
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Jan Vávra
Controversial property Čapí hnízdo [Stork’s Nest] has be-come the site of a project to build a nine-hole golf cour-
se spanning more than 8.5 hectares. Back in the spring, the farm, confe-rence centre and hotel complex was in the headlines as billionaire finan-ce minister Babiš fought allegations over suspicious applications for EU funds. That difficulty, however, has
not left Babiš afraid of sticking his neck out for a major extension of his property south of Prague, near Benešov. To be funded privately, the investment, in its very early stages, has not met with any objections from regional officials.
Imoba, the company that acts as an umbrella for the entrepreneur-tur-ned-politician’s real estate activities, is managing the project. The firm originally hoped to have the course at Stork’s Nest – named in line with
its multi-purpose hall, which is stork’s nest-shaped – finished by November this year. However, Karel Hanzelka, a spokesperson for Babiš’s businesses – which include agricultural, food processing and chemicals giant Ag-rofert – said the project was only at the administrative preparatory stage, collecting the necessary permits. “No specific date is viewed as the expec-ted completion date,” he said.
Continues on page 4
Not long from now, Andrej Babiš could be hobnobbing on behalf of his numerous political, business and media interests on his own golf course
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Babiš feathers his nestCo
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tradePavel Otto
The Czech Republic is pu-shing for the European Commission (EC) to
continue its negotiations with Washington over formulating a Transatlantic Trade and In-vestment Partnership (TTIP). “We will be against any attem-pts at stopping the negotiations with the US,” trade and indu-stry minister Jan Mládek told E15 daily prior to this month’s informal meeting of EU trade ministers. The gathering in Bratislava on 23 September is to be briefed by the EC on the progression of the talks. French foreign trade minister Matthi-as Fekl has requested that the EC halt the TTIP talks, while German economy minister Sig-mar Gabriel has declared that they are “de facto dead”. Also against continuation is Austri-an economy minister Reinhold Mitterlehner.
Mládek attributed the bla-me for the current wave of TTIP opposition from influ-ential European politicians to the British referendum vote for the UK to leave the EU. “In the EU there’s a group of countries which support free trade, among whom is Czechia. Lined up with this group is Great Britain. Now that Britain is half-out [of EU affairs], the group has been greatly weakened and in the other countries there is a prevailing protectionist tendency,” said Mládek.
If the aversion to freeing up international trade comes to predominate in the EU, it could pose a danger to the Czech Republic’s interests. “We always earn from free trade. The problem is that we cannot find another big ally like Great Britain in the EU,” added Mládek.
Mládek discussed the out-look for the TTIP negotiations
with fellow ministers during the latest government session. No opposition to continuing with the talks was voiced. The Czech Republic could see its GDP lifted by some tenths of a percentage point should the trade and investment deal be passed, according to a study conducted by the trade and industry ministry.
Fekl and Gabriel stated that they could not continue pur-suing the TTIP because the Americans would not agree to concessions requested by EU negotiators. Verifying their assertion is not possi-ble because the negotiators are presently restricted to making general statements on how the talks are moving ahead. Access to documen-tation is only available, un-der a restrictive regime, to member state representatives and MEPs.
“It is rather a political pro-blem. For a number of politi-
news2/3
TTIP pits Prague against ParisCzech gov’t is fighting attempts to scrap trade deal talks with the US
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The Russian and Chinese intel-ligence services were the most operative spy agencies in the Czech Republic last year, ac-cording to a Czech Security Information Service [BIS] re-port. The Chinese were busy extending their influence in the country’s politics and economy. The Russians, meanwhile, were fighting information wars in relation to the Ukraine and Sy-rian crises, while agents loyal to Moscow also made attempts at accessing subsidies through the use of dummy set-ups, the BIS report claimed.
As in recent years, Russian intelligence was dominant in terms of foreign secret servi-ces’ activities. In years of late Chinese spies have largely been working on influence and pe-netration in terms of state structures.
Read more at E15 weekly.cz
It’s coronation day, 1347, all over again …Folk who thought they’d need a time machine to witness the 1347 coronation of Charles IV as King of Bohemia might have been rubbing their eyes in disbelief last Sunday. As part of the 700th anniversary celebrations of the Bohemian king and Holy Roman Emperor’s birth, Prague was gripped by a coronation festival that culminated with a re-enactment of the crowning in St. Vitus Cathedral at Prague Castle. The occasion included a procession headed by Prince Charles of the House of Luxembourg and Princess Blanche of Valois. It passed through the capital’s historical centre on its way from Vyšehrad on the river Vltava’s right bank to Prague Castle on the left. Organisers claimed they had traversed the longest ever route for a historical re-enactment in the modern history of the city
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Russian and Chinese spies ‘most active’
cal parties it would be difficult to face a new protest move-ment,” said Mládek. Germany and France are building up to 2017 parliamentary and
presidential elections. Trade unions, environmental groups and green parties are prote-sting strongly against making the deal with the US.
Adéla Čabanová
Unlike its predecessor, the revised anti-smoking bill will not get fatally tangled up in the issue of smoking rooms in re-staurants and pub diners, Social Democrat [ČSSD] health mi-nister Svatopluk Němeček has promised MPs. The law, which if passed would ban smoking in restaurants and introduce fur-ther restrictions on tobacco and alcohol, has been placed before Parliament for a second time by Němeček. The first version of the bill was rejected by MPs in May, with ČSSD accusing MPs of ruling coalition partner ANO of unexpectedly blowing smo-ke in their face with an adverse vote. Some ANO deputies refu-sed to approve the legislation citing their discovery of a pro-vision for structurally separate smoking rooms in restaurants. “I firmly believe that this time [the bill] will stand the test of the lower chamber,” Němeček said. “The parliamentary Social Democrats are not pushing for smoking rooms,” he pledged.
ANO parliamentary caucus chair Jaroslav Faltýnek added his backing, stating: “I believe that this law in its unamended form will pass.”
Even so, Němeček is not about to have it easy pushing through his key priorities. While the coalition might conceivably remain united on this occasion, there are opposition politicians who are intent on stalling the bill’s passage.
The coalition had been ho-peful of getting the legislation approved in its first reading. The argument was that there had been more than enough debate during the failed first bill presentation. But the Civic Democrats [ODS] and TOP 09 were having none of it.
Observers now expect a whirlwind of proposed amen-dments that seek to moderate the bill.
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Ex-PM’s fixer ‘welcomed’ by fellow jailbirdsMarek Dalík, a former lobbyist and secretary to ex-PM Mirek Topolánek, reported to prison on 1 September to begin serving a four-year prison sentence for attempted bribery. Charges were pressed after a 2007 scandal involving a government contract to purchase Pandur armoured vehicles for the military. A recent foreign trip had stoked speculation about whether Dalík might abscond. The official deadline for his turning up at Prague’s Ruzyně prison was 4pm; he arrived with only 20 minutes to spare. Unconfirmed reports suggest fellow prisoners greeted the new inmate with chants of “Welcome to hell!” Dalík has successfully petitioned the Czech Supreme Court to re-examine his case (See Opinion, page 6)
An end to smoking in pubs? The battle goes on
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E15 weekly, economic and business news magazine | www.e15.cz Igor Záruba, Executive Editor, [email protected]; Marian Hronek, Editor,[email protected] | Translation: TextMasters, [email protected]: Adéla Nová, Secretary | Call (+420) 225 977 668Postal address: Komunardů 1584/42, 170 00 Praha 7 | Published CN Invest a. s., Pařížská 130/26, 110 00 Praha 1 Josefov, IČ 04312945 Advertising: Šárka Kamarýtová, Sales Manager, [email protected] Production: [email protected] | Distribution: [email protected] Registration: E 21420 E15 weekly, ISSN 2464-711X Reprints & Permissions: The Publisher will consider requests for reprints or any other reproduction | Printed by EuRoPRINT a. s. facebook.com/ e15weekly
Migration, a dilemma rending the EUImmigration into europe and the relocation of asylum seekers among the EU member states are two of the most important topics to have emerged in the European bloc over the past two years. They have developed into divisive issues when it comes to the East and the West. Both sides hold a different view on how to solve the ongoing refugee crisis. The eastern member states argue that allocation decisions cannot possibly be quota-based – which would amount to an ineffective and counter-productive system – while the western member states accuse the East of nationalism and populism.
By 30 august this year, only 4,455 migrants out of a planned 160,000 had been relocated. A very small number that only goes to prove that a successful outcome of any relocation scheme will be hard to achieve. Quotas are hardly effective in any other area of life and I believe they will also fail in the case of reallocating migrants, especially while the majority of asylum seekers have only three destinations in mind: Germany, Sweden and the UK. But the divide is not only plainly apparent between the East and West. It had a tangible consequence in the form of the successful Brexit campaign.
the arrival of more than one million migrants last year has become one of the main challenges of the present-day EU. The number of migrants has somewhat dwindled since the agreement struck with Turkey, yet there are still many questions ahead of us, which need to be addressed in a satisfactory way.
europe’s population is aging and it is predicted that the future will see a labour force deficit in Europe. Recently, it has been pointed out that refugees could be the solution to this problem. However, many of them lack proper qualifications, do not possess the necessary language skills or do not meet other demands of the labour market.Statistical data show us that in June 2016, there were 665,000 job vacancies in Germany, yet the 30 largest companies in the country were only able to employ 54 refugees out of the more than one million. Another finding was that two-thirds of the young Syrian refugees in Germany could barely read or write. By the end of July, only around one-tenth to one-eighth of refugees looking for a job were able to secure one. Unsurprisingly, the biggest problems were inadequate qualifications or German language deficiencies.
the author is a Member of the european Parliament from the Czech republic
have your say tomás Zdechovský
4/5
energy
Jan Stuchlík
Following the model ado-pted by German sister companies, the Czech
RWE utility will from October be renamed Innogy – a symbi-osis of innovation, technology and energy. Thanks to changes associated with the rebrand, Czech customers might now more quickly access products which the electricity generati-on and distribution firm offers on other European markets.
“With the creation of Innogy we’ve scrapped the old system of management according to individual countries. Now the company will be managed ac-cording to individual functional areas,” said Martin Herrman, who remains head of RWE Czech Republic and becomes the Innogy board commercial director. The firm is current-ly preparing an inventory of products that it offers in coun-tries where it operates. The SmartHome concept, which offers devices for the control
of appliances and energy con-sumption, is one product that could see its introduction to the Czech Republic accele-rated. It is already offered in Germany.
On the ‘export’ side, RWE here could be sending out ex-panded digital services and IT systems which it has develo-ped. “In Germany they are by now learning things from us within the area of digital ser-vices. Similarly, consideration is being given to the transfer of Czech bonus systems for customers that take the form of fixed financial sums,” said David Konvalina, responsible for retail, sales and marketing at RWE Czech Republic.
The transformation into In-nogy will unify the regulated business distribution of elec-tricity and gas, retail, energy services and renewables. The contention is that these are-as belong to the future of the energy business. Only coal pro-duction, nuclear power plants and gas wholesale in Germany will stick with the old brand.
In October, Innogy is to float 10 percent of its shares on the stock market. Dividends from Innogy, which should pay out up to 80 percent of net profit, and possibly a further sale of equity in the newly named en-
tity, should secure the RWE concern enough financial re-sources for the gradual phasing out of conventional electricity production.
In Germany, the Innogy name has been in use since the
start of September. A campaign to present the rebrand to custo-mers in the Czech Republic is under way. “For the campaign and the brand change we have set aside 100 million crowns,” disclosed Konvalina.
For RWE read InnogyName change will arrive with a 10-percent stock market flotation
Wood-boring beetles drive up hauliers’ revenuesThe ruin wrought by this year’s attack of the bark beetle has been unprecedented in its extent. But the nightmare endured by the forestry managers has proved something of a godsend for the hauliers. State freight transporter ČD Cargo has capitalised the most, having in the first eight months of this year hauled away 500,000 tonnes more wood than in the same period of 2015. The loggers are at their busiest in the forests of Moravia and Silesia, where the beetle onslaught has been at its worst
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Not Innogy. In Germany, RWE’s coal production, nuclear power plants and gas wholesale will remain under the old company brand
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Continued from page 1
What is known though is that the golf course project will not be held up by the environmental impacts assessment (EIA) process. The Office of the Central Bohemian Region has decreed that the investment is not subject to it. It has deemed that the project will have no noteworthy impact on the ecosystems of the farm and its environs.
That is just as well because the fight against the EU sub-sidy allegations made about Stork’s Nest is far from over. Both Czech police investiga-tors and the European An-ti-Fraud Office (OLAF) are attempting to disentangle the circumstances surrounding an EU subsidy of CZK 50m used in constructing the property comprising of conference and teambuilding facilities, a ho-
tel, restaurant, environmental centre and mini zoo, stables and a riding arena. The EU capital derived from a pocket intended for small and medium sized firms, but the Farma Čapí Hnízdo business was initially part of the huge Agrofert Hol-ding owned by Babiš. Before the application for the subsidy was made in 2008, the com-pany’s equity was converted into anonymous bearer shares since Agrofert could hardly qualify as anything other than a big business, reporting, as it did, revenues of more than CZK 101bn in 2008.
After five years – i.e. the pe-riod that a subsidy recipient must comply with the funding conditions – the company was officially returned to the hol-ding. The current owner of Čapí hnízdo is Imoba, a subsi-diary of SynBiol, which in turn has a single owner in Andrej Babiš.
business
Babiš feathers his nest
Jan Šindelář
The thickness of a 100-crown bill. That was the border between success and failure in the tender to determine which two taxi companies would secure the lucrative ranks at Václav Havel Air-port Prague. The winner in the selection process was Taxi Praha. Run by entre-preneurs David Franc and Patrik Altman, it was willing to secure the contracts for CZK 4,000,101 per month. The runner-up and second successful bidder was FIX, one of the two current oper-ators allowed at the airport. Its bid in the electronic aucti-on was just one crown lower than the winner’s.
Sedop Taxi Praha offered to pay CZK 4m, but that was only good for third place. Fourth-placed Tick Tack, operated by Radim Jančura, whose Student Agency runs coach and train services and
sells plane tickets, offered a monthly fee of CZK 3.5m.
By winning the deals on offer, Taxi Praha and FIX have secured ranks in front of the two main terminals of the airport for five years from the start of 2017. According to Marika Janoušková, a spo-kesperson for the airport, the electronic auction was confi-gured so that all the bidders could respond to competitors’ bids. The new fees are much higher than what the airport
collects from the current cab operators, she added.
In addition to FIX, the other current official operator is AAA Radiotaxi. It chose to not take part in the tender, claiming it lacked transparency. The cur-rent contracts for the ranks expire at the end of this year. The bidders agreed to meet various conditions, including the use of vehicles no older than three years and the provision of drivers with suitable foreign language skills.
Airport taxi ranks won by ‘less than a fare’
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up and down
Ivan Bednárik Chair of the board, ČD Cargo
Someone’s problem is someone else’s op-portunity. The Czech Republic’s bark beetle calamity has driven up the amount of logged timber carried away by haulier ČD Cargo by 20 percent so far this year.
Guillaume Chêne CEO, Makro Cash & Carry ČR
He’s not afraid to experiment. The wholesa-ler has set up a robotised warehouse with a minimal number of human warehousers in Úžice, north of Prague. It serves as a pilot project for the whole of Europe.
Wolfgang Schäuble German finance minister
The austere politician is not about to give up his beloved “schwarze Null”, or “black zero”, despite the migration crisis budget pressures. Germany plans another balanced budget for 2017. Two years ago, Schäuble secured Germany’s first balanced budget since 1969.
I like reading E15 Weekly. It brings me quality content
in English in terms of current and interesting
information from Czech business and
politicsIvan StarodubovMember of the Board, Böhm Plast-Technik
opinion6/7
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inzerce
The question hung in the air for a long time. Would former lobbyist and secre-tary to ex-PM Mirek Topolánek, Marek Dalík, end up doing time in Prague’s Ruzyně prison? In the end, the an-swer was yes.
Had he sought to avoid serving his sentence it would have meant, in
effect, admitting his guilt and essentially letting it be known that yes, he did seek a bribe from Austrian arms produ-cer Steyr for a state contract to procure Pandur armoured vehicles. Instead, Dalík’s or-derly reporting to prison for a four-year term for bribery gives him the chance to have his case re-examined due to lack of evidence. Dalík gave two interviews days before his incarceration, one to news site Neovlivni.cz, and one to weekly Euro. Set aside the torrent of lies, contradictions, half-truths and inconsistencies spouted by Dalík (which, incidentally, went mostly unchallenged by the interviewers) and focus on the signal the disgraced lob-byist sought to send out. The message was not only blunt, it was somewhat threatening. It went something like this:
I may be reporting to pri-son, but let’s all be clear I’m just a pawn in a much larger game of chess. You all told me I could not reveal in court the truth about my meetings with the arms makers in regard to the Pandur case. I listened to you in the interests of “higher
powers”, and the result is a jail term. You didn’t even have the guts to speak in my defence. But if you don’t act now to re-pair my reputation, or to secu-re a retrial, I’ll begin to spill the beans. And you know that I’ve plenty to spill...
Look again at how Dalík came to be convicted. Staff at Steyr (an Austrian sub-sidiary of the US’s General Dynamics) said Dalík’s re-ason for attending a 2007 restaurant meeting with the arms makers was ostensibly to talk over a potential sub-contract to supply Pandurs to the defence ministry – but also to seek a CZK 500m bri-be. Dalík, however, claimed he was sent to the meeting by
someone – perhaps PM Topo-lánek – to make it clear to the firm that the main figure to be dealt with for facilitating certain subcontracting work was a Slovak lobbyist, Miro-slav Výboh.
Coincidentally, Výboh is closely tied to current Slovak PM Robert Fico. And so in Dalík’s potentially credible version, he merely went to the meeting to, in essence, point to the “right person” to deal with. Did he also ask these pe-ople – whom he’d never met
before – for the bribe? One might think such an experi-enced wheeler and dealer was instead far more blowing his own horn and projecting him-self as a “power player”.
The simple truth is that no subcontractor transaction was ever made and no bribe was ever paid out. So, one asks: Why was the investiga-tion only launched years later in 2011 on the basis of two wit-nesses? Were the Americans perhaps seeking to weaken certain political and business groups? One thing is clear – whenever arms contracts wor-th CZK 1bn are at play, major international arms firms will definitely express an interest. And the tender battles are not
just undertaken via overt bids, but also via marketing and lob-bying efforts carried out by the embassies of the various rival states involved.
So when some fixer and supposed player from the PM’s orbit comes along, a potential scandal has all of its ingredients. Dalík insists he is innocent, blaming nefa-rious forces. In a sense he is right – he played the game by the apparent rules, and then seemed surprised when he fell flat on his face.
joke
Jana Havligerová’s diary
Dire portent of Zapletal’s behindA court has annulled a CZK 8,000 fine it levied back in July against activist Tomáš Zelený. The original fine was levied after Zelený addressed the police as “Cau, Organisation” – referring to the ÚOOZ, or the Organised Crime Unit – and called its former head Robert Šlachta a “big-eared tractor-driver”.A similar acquittal was issued in the infamous case of the red boxer shorts hung by activists atop Prague Castle last September.
Judge Šárka Šantorová warned that convicting members of the Zhotoven activist group, which organised the stunt, would create a dangerous precedent bordering on a totalitarian state punishing people for free expression or their political views.
But before we celebrate the triumph of reason in the justice system too much: Czech military veteran Martin Zapletal, who served in Kuwait
and Kosovo, and who flashed his behind at a convoy of US troops while in uniform back in May, was recently sentenced to 10 months in prison, suspended for two years. During her recent visit to Prague, German chancellor Angela Merkel received a copy of the novel The Good Soldier Švejk from President Zeman. The news was confirmed by Zeman’s spokesperson Jiří Ovčáček, who also said that the president’s gift was designed to give Merkel an insight into the Czech character. So now it’s official – we are a land of Švejk’s. And now for some numbers: experts from the Czech Automobile Club [ÚAMK ČR] say that last year traffic jams caused petrol waste and lost productive time totalling CZK 118bn. Which breaks down to around CZK 18,000 per frustrated driver. Which will buy you more than a tankful of gas. Bon voyage!
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“I know you are overworked, so I’m giving you more to do. Staying busy will keep
your mind off how stressed you are.”
Bohumil Pečinka
Why was the investigation only launched years later in 2011 on the basis of two witnesses?
Might seething Dalík turn informer?
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Dan Hrubý
In fact, this is actually an invented tale about a single Prague citizen. He lived in the dead centre of Prague – meaning Prague 1 – and one day (many years ago) local authorities, citing the need to pro-tect the central historical vicinity, intro-duced parking zones. These were then demarked with painted blue lines.
“I’ll just have to put up with it,” our valiant Prague citizen sighed. Back
then, he paid a mere CZK 300 for his parking permit. And there were nowhe-re near as many cars around as today, meaning he was easily able to park right under the windows of his apartment. Only on Sundays, when he was retur-ning from the summer cottage, did he feel any stress. Especially when coming back after dark – then he usually had to park around the corner!
But that was so long ago... “If they can have parking zones in
Prague 1, while our mums with babies can’t find a place to park in the centre, then why can’t we introduce our own zones as well?” municipal represen-tatives in Prague 2 and Prague 3 told themselves. “Because now everyone who wants to get to Prague 1 is choosing to park in our city districts. Let’s deal with that. So we can protect our right to keep an eye on our beautiful cars parked right under our windows...”
And so they did, and the charac-teristic beautiful blue lines then also appeared in their districts.
Death to outsiders!“Well, I never...” grumbled a local poli-tician from Prague 7 one day. “There’s nowhere to park in my entire district. It’s full of cars from outside; full of pe-ople who headed to Prague 1, 2 and 3. And I can’t see my beautiful BMW out of my window anymore.”
The politician talked it over with his colleagues. Both the coalition and opposition were pretty much in favour and voters supported the idea, too – grateful for a measure to supposedly
improve their wellbeing. Blue lines, ahoy! With elections approaching, it was a great issue with which to rally residents: Death to outsiders using us as a parking lot!
But those cheeky outsiders still con-tinued to park in Prague. Apparently for tourism, leisure, and to teach their children about Czech history. To visit the Castle. To browse exhibitions. To enjoy theatrical and film performances. To spend their hard-earned money in Prague’s stores. To attend the adminis-trative offices and courts of the Central Bohemian region, based in Prague, for a variety of bureaucratic chores. And worst of all – to commute to work!
And, with characteristic gall, they managed to find some alternative places to park, once again as close as possible to the centre – this time in Prague 5 and Prague 6. “Absolutely not! You aren’t going to make fools of us!” decried the local politicians of those districts. “We will set up blue zones too, and if those outsiders want to park their tin cans here – provided there is any space let for them – then they will have to fork
The following is a fairytale of sorts about some people who initially embraced the idea of blue zones, which enable
car owners to park right by their homes. Our characters were often inconsiderate towards others – but it wasn’t until others started being inconsiderate towards them that the whole idea of local parking spots began to fall out of favour
A chilling tale
of blue zones
a house outside of Prague. One of those boxes with faux baroque decoration, a square garden and a circular pool. They used to be very popular once among certain social classes.
Done and dusted. But what to do now about getting to work? He used to ma-nage on foot, then used the tram and metro. But now? Without even realising it, he had slowly become a foreigner in his own city.
Sea of blueAt first he parked in Prague 7 – until they introduced blue zones. Then Prague 6 – again, those blue zones... Then he even tried parking in Karlín and Jarov in Žižkov – but discovered that soon here too blue zones were to be introduced.
“What am I supposed to do?” the frustrated man asked his local repre-sentatives.
“Use the park and ride car parks,” they told him.
“Park and ride?” moaned our driver. He’d been hearing about those for deca-des. Politicians, planners; even from TV and radio. The only problem was that in all that time he hadn’t actually ever seen one. In the meantime countless shopping centres and petrol stations had sprung up around the capital – but parking centres? You’d have better luck spotting a unicorn than seeing one anywhere in his vicinity.
Then, over an evening glass of strong stuff, our man sought out the advice of his old friends from the city centre. But they just continued to defend the blue zones: “Surely you must remember
what it looked like here before they were introduced,” one of them intoned. “It used to take me 10 minutes to find a parking spot. Ten bloody minutes!”
“But you always managed to find a spot in the end, right?”
“Of course,” the friend conceded, but then bemoaned having to drag the big sack of dog food he had bought down two blocks. And boy was that sack heavy. He even proudly declared that he – with a full sense of moral justification – reported local cars parked around his Letná neighbourhood lacking a permit to the police, because such cars were taking up space meant for himself and his neighbours. “I am in the right. And I will tell you bluntly that I even check to make sure they get towed away,” the
friend added enthusiastically.Our man then tried in vain to present
a viable counterargument – that life in the city centre has many advantages, such as easy access to services, and entertainment, and culture; but also some disadvantages. And bad parking opportunities are one of those. And if a person is really so hell-bent on having one’s car parked right under their win-dows then why not move to some small village? There, too, advantages and di-sadvantages present themselves. The former being easy parking, the latter being increased distance to services and the like.
Cars rendered uselessThey weren’t having any of it. At least such was the case for a while. But then, as their lives changed, they also soon
realised that Prague’s public transport system couldn’t handle everything. Sure, they had the advantage of cho-osing whether to park a little extra to the left or right under their windows, but that was about all – for their car was practically of no use at all anymore in Prague. Because each of the city’s districts had become its own parking Fort Knox.
How nice for these friends’ cars to have such prime spots. But if they were parked but not driven, then that surely somewhat removed the point of having them in the first place. Indeed, a means of transportation differs from, say, a dog kennel, which is not desi-gned to be mobile. Which leads one to the conclusion that there should likely be one single parking zone for all of Prague’s citizens (save perhaps in the alleyways of the Old Town), and also a dignified way for non-Prague citizens to be able to park in the capital. And that having to park five or 10 minutes’ walk from one’s home is something that locals can put up with (including having to drag that accursed sack of dog food),
because, as already noted, atrocious parking is a part of the city experience. What is a city without pulling your hair out over the lack of parking spaces? The point is that in the end, everyone somehow gets by and finds something, somewhere. Or perhaps just lately you saw that car stuck in the middle of road in Dejvice, with a skeleton sat behind the wheel?
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out CZK 40 per hour. For an 8.5-hour work day, that translates to around CZK 340 for us. Times five days equals CZK 1,700 per working week. Let the vermin outsiders just keep on paying up...”
In the meantime, our Prague 1 citizen, who initially welcomed the introduction of parking zones in Prague, became a fa-ther, his parents grew older, and he even changed jobs – meaning he now had to travel to another Prague district. He soon noticed something was afoot...
BustedThe first hint that something was not quite right came one weekend when he drove his kids (and their prams) to Prague’s Letná park for an afternoon walk. He soon discovered that there were only a limited number of parking spaces allotted for non-residents here (despite the fact that he lived just 300 metres away on the other side of the river). So he decided to take the risk and park inside a blue zone – after all, being the weekend and all, those streets were largely empty. What could possibly go wrong?
Of course he was busted. The met-ropolitan police towed his car – along with the prams inside – away. Byelaws are byelaws, after all. Prague 7 wasn’t about to tolerate a non-resident who didn’t follow the rules so he ended up having to pay a fine of CZK 2,400.
The second incident occurred when he was driving his daughter to the dentist – this time to Vinohrady. Such a nice middle-class neighbourhood; one can easily get lost navigating its many streets. With his daughter in tears over her aching tooth, our driver neglected to try to find those few available public parking spaces, usually hundreds of metres apart – and usually already full – where he might legally park for a few dozen crowns.
Another mistake.Emerging with his daughter from the dentist, he noticed the car was gone. If you want medical help for your child, then seek it in your own district! Cue another CZK 2,400 fine.
And then followed the incident with his parents. They’d broken their legs in an accident and needed round-the-clock care. To be driven there and back to various places. New furniture to be brought in. Groceries to be delivered. The problem is they lived in Prague 2, a landscape now dominated by ubiqui-tous blue lines. What to do? Arguments about using the tram instead fell on deaf ears for a person with such a load on his plate. And so our Prague 1 citizen – the one who, let’s remember, once so lau-ded his own blue zones – was eventually forced to pick up the telephone and say: “Mum, Dad, I’m sorry but you have to go to an old people’s home!”
Not a very nice outcome, one has to concede...
Otherwise, he had plenty of money. Because one day he decided to build
Taken from the magazine
Outsiders not welcome! Prague 6-Dejvice has become the latest to go for a blue-zones lock-out
If a person really values the ability to park right under their windows so much, then why not move to some small village?
10/11
face to facePh
otos
: E15
Mic
hael
Tom
eš
Pavel Otto
The political battle over next year’s state budget is entering its penul-timate phase. Now the government is set to negotiate a draft proposal put together by Andrej Babiš, sup-plemented by requests from the various other departments of state. But even back in spring, Babiš let it be known he was prepared to incre-ase the country’s CZK 48bn budget deficit by a further CZK 11bn – which then happened. Have you been sur-prised by anything in the ongoing debates over next year’s budget?Sadly, no. The government has alrea-dy secured parliamentary approval for an increase in expenditure limits, meaning it has once again breached a principle previously adopted by ex-Social Democratic finance minister Pavel Mertlík [1999-2001]. Back then the agreement was that not only de-ficits but also expenditures needed to be set. There is a simple reason for that. At the point when an economy begins to perform better, the revenues from this prosperity should not go on increasing expenditures, but rather on reducing deficit balance. The only governments that stuck to such ex-penditure limits were those of Mirek Topolánek and Petr Nečas [both Civic Democrat-led –Ed.].
So the government is just piling up more debt?
According to Miroslav Kalousek, leader of opposition party TOP 09, relations within the three-party governing coalition are rapidly souring, with Cabinet members failing to communicate
among themselves. “The finance minister even failed to reach agreement with the PM on such a fundamental issue as the basic parameters for the proposed state budget for next year,” he remarks. Kalousek also dismisses finance minister and ANO leader Andrej Babiš’s idea to give customs officials full police powers as absurd
Miroslav KalouseK
Even if the nominal deficit is being somewhat reduced, the structural deficit is showing no signs of impro-vement. As a rule of thumb when Social Democrat-led redistributive governments have more money, they don’t use this to reduce the deficit, or to make structural changes, but rather they squander it. It is a terrible shame that the government is not making better use of this growth period. It was precisely such conduct in the run-up to 2008 that forced us to have to undertake some very painful savings measures. I agree that deficits have to be higher during times of economic crisis. But that only works if during times of growth governments under-take strong efforts to either pay down the deficit, or even to create surpluses. The Socialists who espouse Keyne-sian theories always only adopt one side of the equation: that there needs to be spending during tough times. The problem is that they also end up spending during the good times, too. And for so long until the money simply dries up.
But the Social Democrats make the counter-argument that the pre-vious Nečas government was the main one responsible for overdo-ing austerity measures, which then ended up stifling economic growth. Even among the Civic Democrats you hear the view that the austerity measures undertaken by the former
The gov’t’s failing on the job
government were too severe. Are you prepared to admit that this was the case?If we knew back then what we know now, then the stabilisation efforts need not have been undertaken with such speed. The tempo was CZK 60bn per year. Yes, I am willing to enter into a debate over whether CZK 40bn mi-ght have been sufficient. And we can talk about the speed of the consoli-dation of state budgets, but certainly not about the overall trend – meaning aiming towards a balanced budget. Andrej Babiš has totally abandoned
such ideas. The government of which he is a part had no right to worsen the structural deficit.
We were having to tackle a state debt crisis, and were engaged in a de-sperate battle to regain the faith of financial markets. This began to yield fruit in 2011, when ratings agency Mo-ody’s improved our rating by two po-ints – the only EU state to enjoy such a privilege. This is in strong contrast to the fact that at the end of this July, ratings agency Fitch downgraded our
credit rating by one point. That truly serves as a damning assessment of the budgetary policies of this government. At the point where a finance minister presides over a cut in the country’s credit rating, then that person should resign.
Not long ago, after a budget surplus of around CZK 76bn was announced, Babiš described himself as the most successful finance minister since the founding of the Czech Republic. Is such self-praise justified?The surplus came about both due to
higher revenues – which had nothing to do with the government, but rather was simply a fortunate happenstan-ce – and secondly because none of the pre-budgeted investments were actually undertaken.
If we examine published analyses, then we find that none of the successes are down to the active policies of this government. The reasons are found in economic growth and also the go-vernment’s inability to make invest-ment choices. I believe the success
of a finance minister is determined by ratings agencies. As far as I am awa-re, Babiš is the first minister who has presided over a ratings downgrade. Under past finance ministers Bohu-slav Sobotka [2002-2006] and Eduard Janota [2009-2010] the ratings were stable, and under yours truly, our cre-dit rating went up two points.
If you were finance minister now what kind of budget would you pro-pose?Either I would propose a deficit lower than CZK 60bn, or I would not feel
I could continue in such a post. I was rather fascinated by the first round of budget talks this year. Babiš brought a deficit proposal before the rest of the government, he was overruled, and then left with an even higher de-ficit figure. That is indicative of the relationships that exist within this government; and also tells us about its capacity for planning and its ne-gotiating skills. A finance minister who is outvoted in such a basic matter as the so-called big ticket matters of
Miroslav Kalousek (55)In 1990, prior to entering national politics, he served as an advisor to the government’s deputy chairman for economic transformation; after that he served for five years as a deputy to the defence ministry. He was elected an MP in 1998, and went on to become the head of the parliamentary budget committee. Headed the Christian Democratic party [KDU-ČSL] from 2003-2006. Spent five years serving as finance minister in the governments of Mirek Topolánek, and subsequently Petr Nečas. In 2009, he and Karel Schwarzenberg founded the TOP 09 party; last November Kalousek became its chairman.
revenues, expenditures and deficits should surely have to resign. But that has never happened before, because each time finance ministers were able to reach an advance agreement with the PM. There is simply no other way to draft a budget. This golden rule applied just as much during the gover-nment of Petr Nečas, when relations between myself and the premier were far from rosy.
read more at e15 weekly.cz
Seeing everyone as a potential criminal is the very essence of Babišism. I define the two guiding principles of the finance minister as being: everyone can be bought, and everyone is a thief
12/13
profile
In the 1960s, world-beating gymnast Věra Čáslavská, who
passed away on 31 August, could fairly be described as one of the planet’s most admired people. Charming and cheerful, she won 11 Olympic medals for Czechoslovakia. Then the communist regime declared her an enemy of the people and she disappeared from the public eye for many years. She was revered and loved by the Japanese and she loved them back. “They have a folk song which says that when you feel great pain you must raise your head and look upwards. That will stop the tears from falling to the ground. It has become my approach to life,” Čáslavská once said
Tears for Čáslavská
Jana Havligerová
The moments of her greatest sporting glory are associated with the Summer Olympic Games of 1964 and 1968. Věra Čáslavská won three golds and two silvers in Tokyo, followed by four golds and two silvers in Mexico City. For the Japanese, she has remained a symbol of the Tokyo Games ever since.
From the very top to rock bottom, twiceThe seven-time Olympic gold medal-list and the most successful Czech athlete of all time ended her sporting career of her own accord when it was at its highest point. The decision came after the Mexico Games of 1968, from which she arrived home with four in-dividual golds, an individual silver and a team silver to boot.
While in Mexico City, Čáslavská married Josef Odložil, a middle-distance runner who took a silver in the 1,500 m event at the Tokyo Games and was the national record holder over the distance. Their Mexico City Cathedral wedding brought thou-sands to the streets and millions of people watched it on television. But it was as if the ceremony marked the beginning of yet another period in Čáslavská life, one filled with inter-rogations and humiliation. Following the Soviet-led military invasion of Cze-choslovakia in August 1968, Čáslavská signed the “Two Thousand Words” protest manifesto penned by writer and journalist Lukáš Vaculík. She then refused to withdraw her endor-sement no matter how strongly the government pressed her to. So a few months after her triumphant return from Mexico, the totalitarian regime of her home country declared her an enemy of the people.
“Mexico marked the end of my – essentially very simple – sporting journey, which I perceived as beautiful and somehow pure. If the fall from the uneven bars in Tokyo was my own small, personal tragedy, then my victories in Mexico could do nothing to alleviate our national tragedy,” she said in response to the invasion of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact armies.
Čáslavská was repeatedly inter-rogated by State Security [StB], the government’s secret police force, and before she could begin working with young gymnastic talent she was forced to find employment as a cleaner for a number of years.
She only returned to the limelight after the Velvet Revolution of 1989 and the fall of the communist regime when she became an advisor to presi-dent Václav Havel and subsequently chaired the Czechoslovak and later Czech Olympic Committee. Unfor-tunately, tragedy soon struck once more.
A Samurai sword from HirohitoA year after she placed her sole spor-ting focus on artistic gymnastics in 1957, Čáslavská began her internatio-nal career in the sport at the Moscow World Championships. Though at 16 she was the youngest participant, she won the silver medal in the team event and finished eighth individually in the all-round event.
She would herself talk of how she began in very poor conditions and had to steadily work her way up: “It was
a difficult and demanding journey and I crawled along like a tiny ant.”
Her finest disciplines were the all-round, balance beam and vault. In the uneven bars she became famous and admired for a movement in which she detached from the top bar, spun around her vertical axis and grab-bed the bar again to swing onto the lower bar. The Japanese called it the “Ultra C”, in line with their informal gymnastics strategy of working out routines exceeding the most difficult C-graded moves. There were only two
other gymnasts capable of performing the move at the time, both Japanese male gymnasts.
Čáslavská actually fell off the bar performing the “Ultra C” at the Olym-pic event in Tokyo. But when she resu-med her performance she went for it again, for the benefit of the spectators. The Japanese were mesmerised. She was given an audience with emperor Hirohito and received a 17th-century katana, a curved Samurai sword. “My life has been all high peaks and deep drops. It is Mount Everest when I am
up and the Mariana Trench when it goes the other way,” she said in one interview.
30 lost yearsThe fact that she was back in the pu-blic eye after the communist regime finally fell only made the family trage-dy that was to befall her all the more painful. In August 1993 Čáslavská and Odložil’s son Martin struck his father, who had divorced from Čáslavská in 1987, during an altercation. Odložil reportedly fell, hit his head and died 35 days later. Martin Odložil was sen-tenced to four years’ imprisonment but was pardoned by president Ha-vel, who cited insufficient evidence of foul play.
However, the tragedy and its fallout dealt a severe blow to Čáslavská. She stopped appearing in public and even sought psychiatric treatment in Prague’s Bohnice hospital for depression. She eventually again returned to public life in 2007. “I’m not finished yet. I am still here to do what needs doing. I was suffocated for 15 years by the communists, then I suffocated myself for another 15 years. I have lost 30 years of my life. Can you imagine what it is like to lose so many years? That is why I am trying to catch up as much as I can. That guardian angel of mine has had it easy for far too long, it is time for some action,” she told women’s magazine Ona Dnes.
Čáslavská was a fighter. She brim-med with energy. But in the first half of 2015 she was diagnosed with deadly pancreatic cancer. She died on Tues-day 30 August at the age of 74.
Čáslavská was repeatedly interrogated by the government’s secret police force and she was forced to find employment as a cleaner for a number of years
Věra Čáslavská (†74)Born on 3 May, 1942 in Prague. Won 11 Olympic medals, four World and 11 European Champion-ship golds in artistic gymnastics. In all, won 140 medals during her sporting career. Awarded the Pierre de Coubertin Trophy by UNESCO’s International Fair Play Committee in 1989. Inducted into the International Women’s Sports Hall of Fame in New York in 1991. Received the Czech Republic’s Medal of Merit, 2nd degree, in 1995 and in 2010 awarded the Japanese national decoration for distinguished achievements, the Order of the Rising Sun.
food14/15
A dish with cunning
Phot
o: N
ina
Nov
ákTaken from the magazine
The increa-singly rare chanterelle
mushroom – or, in Czech, the “liška”, meaning the “fox” – is prized for its firmness, meaning it doesn’t transform into a mud-like mess in the pan. It is also prized for its aroma and colour, which make various dishes that much more enticing. Patience during the cleaning of the tiny gills pays off
David Skokan
Wash the chanterelles. Cut the smaller ones into halves, the others into large pieces. Slice the bacon into cubes. Remove the cores and seeds from the tomatoes and chop into small cubes. Fry the bacon in a pan. At the point where the light-ly cooked meat is separating from the dissolving fat, add the mushrooms and fry everything together for around 4 minu-tes. Then lower the heat. Pour in the cream, add the thyme and a pinch of freshly ground pepper and stew for around 10 minutes until the sauce thickens. Finally, mix in the chopped tomatoes and lightly warm. Cook the fresh pasta in salted water for 2 minutes, or according to the instructions. Strain. Divide it among the plates. Pour on the sauce with chanterelles. Sprinkle on the parsley and serve.
Chanterelles with pasta4 servings
preparation:35 minutes
400 g fresh chanterelles 200 g slices of English bacon 2 pulpy tomatoes 250 ml sweet cream (33%) 2 sprigs of thyme 500 g fresh tagliatelle 1 handful of chopped parsley salt and ground pepper
society
Pétanque buffs swap the boulodrome for chateau gardensThe chateau gardens of Trojský zámek in Prague provided the setting for the 13th edition of the largest amateur pétanque tournament in the Czech Republic. Demonstrating his refined skills was three-time world pétanque champion Eric Sirot from France (pictured left with former Czech world cross-country skiing champion Martin Koukal). Pétanque represents an appealing opportunity for making contacts among the French business community. Also present at the tournament were representatives of charitable trust SIRIRI, which supports self-sufficiency and educational development in the Central African Republic Ph
oto:
MCC
AN
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Phot
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í kom
ora
A dish with cunning KLASA quality accolades handed out at ‘Bread Basket’This year’s Země živitelka [Earth the Provider, or “The Bread Basket” exhibition] agricultural trade fair saw the awarding of KLASA [CLASS A] national food and agricultural quality marks to nine producers. During the event – an annual fixture since 1972 – the awards were handed out in the Beer Garden of the České Budějovice Exhibition Grounds by Senate president Milan Štěch, agriculture minister Marian Jurečka and director of the State Agricultural Intervention Fund Martin Šebestyán. Pictured are representatives of the firm BEAS who collected their KLASA certificates for two baking products. Currently, 1,062 products made by 219 producers bear the KLASA distinction. The standing agriculture minister has been handing out the mark each year since 2003
adver t is ing
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Monday, 12 September 2016
Issue 130 l newsstand price CZK 24/¤ 1 l www.e15.czBlue zones: an
urban fairytaleSelf-satisfied car owners enjoying
parking restrictions should beware
an unhappy endingtop story pages 8–9
Revering ČáslavskáOlympic gold-winning gymnast crushed for her
1968 Prague Spring support passes away
profile pages 12–13
977
1803
4543
140
01
30
Jan Vávra
Controversial property Čapí
hnízdo [Stork’s Nest] has be-
come the site of a project to
build a nine-hole golf cour-
se spanning more than 8.5 hectares.
Back in the spring, the farm, confe-
rence centre and hotel complex was
in the headlines as billionaire finan-
ce minister Babiš fought allegations
over suspicious applications for EU
funds. That difficulty, however, has
not left Babiš afraid of sticking his
neck out for a major extension of
his property south of Prague, near
Benešov. To be funded privately, the
investment, in its very early stages,
has not met with any objections from
regional officials. Imoba, the company that acts as an
umbrella for the entrepreneur-tur-
ned-politician’s real estate activities,
is managing the project. The firm
originally hoped to have the course
at Stork’s Nest – named in line with
its multi-purpose hall, which is stork’s
nest-shaped – finished by November
this year. However, Karel Hanzelka,
a spokesperson for Babiš’s businesses
– which include agricultural, food
processing and chemicals giant Ag-
rofert – said the project was only at
the administrative preparatory stage,
collecting the necessary permits. “No
specific date is viewed as the expec-
ted completion date,” he said.
Continues on page 4
Not long from now,
Andrej Babiš could
be hobnobbing on
behalf of his numerous
political, business and
media interests on his
own golf course
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Babiš feathers his nest
Colla
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Olympic gold-winning gymnast crushed for her
1968 Prague Spring support passes away
profile pages 12–13
01-04-05 E15W 130.indd 1
8.9.2016 15:51:47
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16
diversions
Take me to your leaderNow then, somebody has seriously fouled up with the events calendar here. Or has there been a tear in the thin membrane between two worlds? Somebody in a movie getup walks past a somewhat nonplussed local sat near Saint Rose’s Church in Lima, Peru, during celebrations of the anniversary of Rose of Lima, the patron saint of Peru and of all indigenous natives of Latin America. The saint also serves as the patroness of embroiderers, gardeners and florists… but perhaps not of this fellow?
invitations
picture of the week
Photos: a
rchi
vePh
oto:
Reu
ters
trip tip
Břeclav Castle,South Moravia
In the 11th century a border castle was established by Duke Bretislav I (the “Bohemian Achilles”). It later became a lordly manor house. The House of Zierotin rebuilt it in the Renaissance style and in 1638 the House of Liechtenstein acquired it.
Art EXHiBitiON
La Gitanaat Café V lese
Liron Meyuhas, aka La Gitana (“The gypsy”), is a multi-instrumentalist musician who performs original material, bringing worldwide influences together into every single musical piece. 15 September, Prague.
fEstivAlDifferent City Experience
With the festival content created by the particular Prague neighbourhoods’ residents, the big idea is the principle of people (not cars) sharing the public space, mutual help and local volunteering. Join in this Saturday! More info on E15 Weekly’s Facebook page.
filmGreen Horse Rustlers(2016)
A dramatic tale of Czech moldavite diggers for whom the illegal mining of these semi-precious olive-green stones becomes an uncontrollable passion and a way to resolve material problems. Daily at Prague’s Světozor Cinema, English subtitles.
EXHiBitiON
Economies Of Time, Subverted
There’s a sense of perverted nostalgia haunting the cinematic narratives delivered through a polylogue in this Moving Image Department “Fifth Chapter” project at Prague's Trade Fair Palace. Running until 18 September.
About us. E15 Weekly is one of a group of business and economics-oriented publications printed by CN Invest a. s. It is a sister title to the E15 daily. Both periodicals, as well as a number of others, came under new ownership in the spring of 2016 when part of a portfolio formerly published by Mladá fronta a. s. was acquired. CN Invest a. s. publishes a broad range of print and online titles. In addition to other business-minded titles, the company also publishes lifestyle and women’s magazines (Maminka, Dieta, Moje psychologie) and children’s titles (Mateřídouška, Sluníčko). The publishing house also enjoys a considerable presence in the segment of technical and men’s online titles. CN Invest, and its sister company CZECH NEWS CENTER a. s. (the biggest publishing house in the Czech Republic, with titles such as Blesk, Reflex, Svět motorů, ABC), are members of the media concern CZECH MEDIA INVEST a. s.
