LN: Nečas's gov't steers clear of mafia-style rule

Prague, Oct 17 (CTK) - The Czech government of Petr Necas, though far from perfect, deserves praise for having stopped the development of a mafia-style policy that had flourished on the Czech scene from the mid-1990s irrespective of whether the right or the left was in power, Petr Placak writes in Lidove noviny.

In this respect, the Necas government is a breakthrough, in spite of the widespread scepticism that seems to be artificially nourished by the media, the president, the Communists and others, Placak writes.

The mafia-style policy was petrified as a system in the "opposition agreement" period, when the government versus opposition model, the basis of parliamentary democracy, was eliminated, Placak writes.

He refers to a power-sharing pact in 1998-2002 when a Social Democrat (CSSD) minority government was kept afloat by the arch-rival senior opposition Civic Democrats (ODS) in exchange for a portion of political and economic influence.

This is also how the corruption system functions in the country. At first sight, there are all democratic institutions, but in fact crucial decisions are made behind the scenes and beyond any democratic control, regardless of the political system. This is a kind of cancer that spreads uncontrolled, attacking the political system from inside, Placak writes.

The cabinet of Necas (ODS) is the first Czech cabinet to seriously try to break up the widespread corruption system that threatens the essence of democracy, Placak continues.

This is also the core of the dispute between the cabinet and President Vaclav Klaus, who wrote the cabinet off when the ODS and TOP 09 declared further government cooperation with the Public Affairs (VV) untenable this spring. It was [informal leader] Vit Barta's VV that promoted the previously latent system of politics as a business project to its official party doctrine, Placak writes.

Klaus recently said it quite openly. He said the government's problem rests in the government "having caused, by its own steps, its original comfortable 118-vote majority [in the 200-seat Chamber of Deputies] to shrink to a narrow majority...They failed to figure out this effect and now they can see the results," Klaus is quoted as saying earlier this month.

Klaus forgot to add, however, that he has markedly contributed to the results himself by "boycotting" government-sponsored bills, Placak writes, alluding to Klaus's criticism and vetoing of some of the crucial pieces of legislation.

"It is a sheer coincidence that I chose [to veto] three bills, including a pension reform one, in the past three months," Klaus told the media.

Klaus calls "a sheer coincidence" his veto of the crucial bill that has been prepared for long and that is a core stone of the government reforms. However, vetoing the pension bill was a totally irresponsible step, Placak writes.

If Klaus said the late September airsoft gun attack on him was "an attempted murder," his own performance as president is an "attempted murder of the Czech constitution," Placak writes.

In addition, the revival of democracy is at stake. The state attorneys' system has finally, after many years, cut itself off from dubious political ties and started prosecuting corruption and other serious economic crime irrespective of the suspects' rank and political affiliation, Placak writes.

The same goes for the police who, under the then CSSD interior minister and later PM Stanislav Gross (in the first half of the 2000s), were degraded to a pretorian guard covering up financial machinations of politicians. At present, the police work independently again under Interior Minister Jan Kubice (unaffiliated), Placak writes.

Some of the Necas government's steps have been unfortunate, however, mainly its tax policy. Raising taxes is a traditional but also the silliest way to boost the state finances. The government's tax rise plan has been untrustworthy since the beginning. The government looked as if it did not know what it was doing and what it was aiming at - various VAT changes proposals followed each other chaotically, Placak writes.

It is understandable that a tax increase is sought by the finance minister. However, it is not understandable that the finance minister is determining the whole cabinet's economic policy, even in the present time of economic stagnation when slowing down the economy by restrictive financial policy is not the best way to help the economy, Placak writes.

On top of it, the government has tied the controversial tax legislation to a confidence vote in the Chamber of Deputies, Placak adds disapprovingly.

The cabinet lost the last remnants of trustworthiness on Monday when Necas suggested that the basic, higher VAT rate should not be raised, although the previous proposal was to raise both rates. Hieronymus Bosch could add the Necas cabinet in his Ship of Fools painting, Placak writes.

In spite of its lack of concept and the betrayal of its right-oriented programme, the Necas government has scored one very important point. Under its rule the Czech Republic diverted from the mafia-style system and embarked on the path back among standard parliamentary democracies, Placak writes.

Even if the cabinet achieved nothing else, it deserves praise for this, he adds.