Prague, March 5 (CTK) – Those who say Czech President Milos Zeman is clumsy in relation to media and that he antagonises journalists and almost everyone are mistaken which he proved when he sealed a property settlement agreement with Cardinal Dominik Duka before cameras, Josef Koukal writes in Pravo Saturday.
He writes that the cameras of the public Czech Television (CT) broadcast live the signature of the agreement according to which the state transferred the St George’s Convent, the Provost’s Residence and the All Saints’ Church within the complex of Prague Castle, the presidential seat, to the Catholic Church on Friday.
The church applied for several buildings in the summer of 2013 based on the restitution law, but Prague Castle refused to return some of them citing security reasons.
Based on the 2012 law, churches will be returned their former property confiscated from them by the communist regime and given financial compensation for the property that cannot be returned. The compensation will total 59 billion crowns plus inflation during 30 years. Most of the sum, 47.2 billion crowns, is to go to the Roman Catholic Church.
Koukal writes that the state has profited from the return of the buildings at Prague Castle because the church has pledged to reconstruct them at its own costs within five years, as well as politically.
Zeman, for his part, made the impression of being almost a church benefactor without investing anything in the deal, Koukal writes in his commentary tinged with irony.
He writes that the reconciliation at Prague Castle is a result of lawyers’ years-long haggling spanning the terms of three presidents. But who has scored points? Zeman.
Without the agreement, dragged-out lawsuits with an unsure result for the state would have followed, while the church now only got three buildings, the oldest of which (St George’s Basilica) it undoubtedly managed since the 11th century, Koukal writes.
He writes that the church withdrew claims to other buildings, by which it has in fact given them up for the benefit of the state. Points have again been scored by Zeman.
Within the Prague Castle, the Friday agreement should put a full stop to the restitution law and amounts to a kind of settling accounts with the heritage of the rule of former prime minister Petr Necas (Civic Democrats, ODS) and former finance minister Miroslav Kalousek (TOP 09), under whose centre-right coalition government the law was passed.
The credit for this is due to Zeman, Koukal writes.
Credit is also due to Zeman for that the church has been donated a double-edged gift, while the state has saved hundreds of millions of crowns in the necessary investments in the dilapidated buildings, which will, however, continue to serve purposes benefiting the public, culture and education, Koukal writes.
He writes that some Catholics have objected to the agreement and Cardinal Miloslav Vlk has become their spokesman for the issue, but who is laughing? Zeman again.
Even though the Catholic Church made a concession, its media image has not improved much. The broader social surroundings have long perceived it as a kind of large real estate firm whose managers commit not only economic, but also moral delicts from time to time, however much unjust this perception may be, Koukal writes.
The state is emerging from the dispute as a protector of public property that is defending the people’s family silver from the greedy clergy, Koukal writes and asks who will be a greater hero when Zeman returns among his voters and Duka among his believers.
