ČSSD wants to halt issuance of social cards

Prague, Oct 16 (CTK) - The Czech government of Prime Minister Petr Necas (the Civic Democratic Party, ODS) should halt the issuance of social cards, Bohuslav Sobotka, leader of the opposition Social Democrats (CSSD), said yesterday.

Sobotka said the social cards (sCards) should only serve for the distribution of welfare aid to those in material need.

According to a plan of the Labour and Social Affairs Ministry, the social cards are used by eligible recipients to draw social benefits. The people are expected to use the sCard to draw the relevant cash sum from ATMs. They can also use the cards for payments.

The plastic cards also serve as disability certificates for their holders.

The distribution of sCards has been underway since this summer. About 600,000 of them are to be distributed by the end of the year. As from January 2013, they are to be newly used also by the unemployed.

The project was prepared by the then deputy minister Vladimir Siska, who faces prosecution for suspected bribery and who was taken into custody a few days ago.

The CSSD would welcome the full scrapping of the project that has only complicated lives, but it does not know the contractual terms of the cards' operation, Sobotka said.

This is why it demands the project's revision and it will propose its reduction, he added.

The CSSD also wants other parts of the social policy to be changed, Sobotka said.

The CSSD will propose a postponement of the pension reform to 2015, an increase in the minimum wage and the cancellation of the limited pension indexation, Sobotka said.

The CSSD also wants to change social housing, he added.

Sobotka said the government should resign due to its debacle in the regional and Senate elections and early elections should be held.

The ODS only won in one of out of 13 regions and it will probably be also defeated in the Senate elections the second round of which will be held on October 19-20.

They should be held next spring, he added.

In reaction to the outcome of the elections, Necas said on Monday the government would continue with its reform effort, but indicated that the plans of the Labour and Social Affairs Ministry in the sphere of social cards could be modified.

Sobotka said he wanted to continue the talks on early elections.

In the weeks to come, the Social Democrats would oppose some government reforms. They will go by the principle "modify, amend or scrap" in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, Sobotka said.