MfD: Protest against return of property to churches cheap

Prague, Feb 19 (CTK) - The policy against the return of property to Czech churches pursues its own aim of gaining popularity among the voters who do not want to give back anything from what Communists stole from the churches, Karel Steigerwald writes in Mlada fronta Dnes Tuesday.

This is a usual strategy. The descendants of those who stole everything are now speaking about "a theft of the century," Steigerwald writes.

On Monday, the Czech opposition Social Democrats (CSSD) lodged a complaint with the Constitutional Court (US) demanding that it abolish the law on return of property to churches.

The arguments against the return of property are weak, poor and absurd, Steigerwald writes.

Courts will decide in a normal procedure on which property belonged to the churches and should be returned. Ownership as from February 25, 1948, the day of the Communist coup, will be decisive as the deadline, he adds.

It took over 20 years to push through and outline the whole operation. Steigerwald writes.

There is no doubt that the churches were robbed. There is no doubt that the state coffers will benefit from the churches becoming "denationalised," he adds.

There is no doubt that the return of property is a complicated affair with many hitches, Steigerwald writes.

Hence the protracted search for a consensus about the solution, he adds.

However, the coalition that is against the return of property to churches did not come up with any proposals, Steigerwald writes.

In the talks that lasted many years, it only planted unusable postcommunist landmines speaking about a theft of the century, about the spoils the churches will grab and resell to scoundrels, he adds.

The whole struggle for the denationalisation of churches presents an understandable metaphor of how politics is conducted here, Steigerwald writes.

The coalition against the return of property of churches does not want to come up with any solution to the problem that would be at least partial, though imperfect, he adds.

In fact, it wants to maintain the problem as this is a wonderful field for its populist games, Steigerwald writes.

The solution can be postponed as there is time enough, while the critics' political gains are scored immediately, he adds.

In fact, the reforms of pensions, health care and education have ended in the same political stalemate, Steigerwald writes.

The Czech political environment is postcommunist, he adds.

It is full of the red burden, irrational ideas and prejudices, Steigerwald writes.

When everything started in 1990, after the fall of the Communist regime, people were afraid that jewellery and sex shops will be everywhere, while dairy shops with bread rolls nowhere, he adds.

The fear soon subsided as they could see positive results, Steigerwald writes.

The fighters for the regulation of retail trade then proceeded to target the reforms of pensions, health care and the position of churches, Steigerwald writes.

These are better themes for demagoguery as their solutions must be sought in the long run and their benefit only appears after a rather long time, he adds.

This is why the Czech political environment is so slack and powerless. It is almost impossible to find and implement any rational solution, Steigerwald writes.

There are always enough people who shout "Never, this is a crime of the century," he adds.

However, the real crime of the century is the continuous wasting of the chances Czechs had 20 years ago. The descendants will never understand this, Steigerwald writes.

Under the law, which the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of parliament, definitively passed last November, churches are to be returned land and real estate worth 75 billion and given 59 billion crowns in financial compensation for unreturned property during the following 30 years. The largest sum, 47 billion crowns, would go to the Roman Catholic Church.

The state is to gradually cease financing the churches. The transitional period is to last 17 years.