Lower house postpones restitution bill

Prague, Sept 5 (CTK) - The next regular session of the lower house of Czech parliament is to open on September 18 and it has over 160 points on the agenda, including the church restitution bill that was excluded from the present session's agenda, the house's organisation committee decided yesterday.

Lower house chairwoman Miroslava Nemcova said the next session will probably last maximally two weeks.

The house's leadership and the heads of the deputies' groups will meet to discuss how many of the points on the official agenda and which of them can realistically be discussed during the session, Nemcova said.

The house will not be working on Friday, September 28, which is a national holiday.

As usual, changes to the agenda may be proposed at the beginning of the session.

It is not clear whether the late September session will discuss the bill on the church property return. Politicians are yet to negotiate about the issue and they may again decide to adjourn the vote, as they did yesterday.

The government coalition is unable to push this bill through. The junior LIDEM party said the bill can only be passed after the changes to the taxes are approved.

The present session includes the stabilisation package with a VAT increase. According to available information, the bill will be rejected. The government said it would submit it once again in the next days in such as case.

The stabilisation package may be added to the next session's agenda if the government submits it at least ten days before the opening of the session.