LN: Gov't communication failure hampers Czech church restitution

Prague, Aug 13 (CTK) - The Czech government's church restitution bill, if implemented, would definitely benefit all, but still it arouses hysteria among the public, also due to the government's failure to discuss such a complex issue with people, Ondrej Neff writes in daily Lidove noviny Monday.

This failure of Petr Necas's (Civic Democrats, ODS) cabinet is surprising, because the bill on the state-church property settlement solves a real problem that is clear to identify. The bill has been drafted carefully and reasonably, to the benefit of all, Neff writes.

However, as a result of the cabinet's failure to communicate with people, emotions continue boiling and the church property return has become a significant topic ahead of the autumn regional elections, which its authors evidently did not plan, Neff says.

Church-related affairs have stirred strong emotions of Czechs for more than five centuries, and the recent hysteria over the opposition Social Democrats' (CSSD) billboards lashing out at the church restitution bill is not the first wave of hysteria in this respect, Neff writes.

Irrespective of whether the billboards are appropriate or not, they will effectively influence voters, as did the CSSD's campaign against patients' regulatory fees in 2008, Neff continues.

The fees' introduction was only a marginal step within the health care reform promoted by the then right-wing government, which, too, was incapable of highlighting the step to people. The CSSD used this to score a sweeping victory in the autumn 2008 regional elections, Neff recalls.

The present problem's rational core is the fact that the state has blocked a large amount of property that was previously confiscated from churches, while simultaneously subsidising churches from the state budget, Neff continues.

The property blockade benefits no one. A part of the confiscated property can be returned, and another part cannot, because it serves another purpose now. Like in the civil restitutions in the 1990s, restitution of the unreturned church property is to be achieved through financial compensation. The authors of the bill have calculated the compensation sums each of the 17 churches involves is entitled to, Neff writes.

The cabinet has been totally incapable of explaining to people that the bill means the economic separation of the state from churches, that the churches are to secure their financial management and pay priests and dignitaries by themselves, Neff writes.

Other states have already reached agreement with churches. In Slovakia, a traditionally Catholic country, the state continues subsidising churches. Hungary has introduced a model similar to that proposed by the Czech CSSD. The Catholic Church has given up its claim for about 1200 pieces of real estate in exchange for a rent the state has pledged to pay out to it from a fund comprising former church property, Neff writes.

The latter solution reckons with the state as an effective manager of the property involved, a presumption that need not be always right, however, Neff says.

This is evidently the core of the problem. The question of whether a billboard is appropriate or not is of a secondary importance, he says.

It is sad that after an uncontrolled development of the church restitution issue, the Czech Republic is in a situation where the matter-of-fact core of the problem interests no one. The CSSD has managed to promote the church restitution to an election topic, Neff writes.

No one minds that as a national topic the church restitution is not under the jurisdiction of the regional assemblies that will arise from the autumn elections. In 2008, too, it was evident that national topics are an effective instrument of campaigning ahead of regional polls, Neff writes.

The church property return is an election topic chosen in a demagogic and indecent way by the CSSD, but this changes nothing about it effectiveness. Church restitution advocates now have to explain to the uninformed voters that now that the country faces a lengthy economic recession, the time has come to take a measure burdening the state budget, Neff writes ironically.

Moreover, it is far from sure that the economic separation of the state and churches will be really achieved. Experiences from abroad indicate that the opposite is much more likely to happen, Neff writes.

After the elections, Prime Minister Petr Necas (Civic Democrats, ODS) may write a political guidebook entitled "How to Lose Won Battles," Neff says in conclusion.