Lany, Central Bohemia, Feb 18 (CTK) – Czech Human Rights and Legislation Minister Jan Chvojka debated the position of the Government Legislative Council, which he has chaired since December, and the bill on social business with President Milos Zeman and his advisers Saturday, Chvojka has told reporters.
After the meeting, he said he and Zeman had agreed basically on everything.
“We debated a number of topics. We may have discussed social business the longest time. We also touched upon the position of the Government Legislative Council and talked about the constitution and possible changes in it. Then we dealt with the bill on lobbying for quite a long time and last but not least, the protection of whistleblowers,” Chvojka (Social Democrats, CSSD) said.
Commenting on the bill on social business, which the government is to debate in the spring, Chvojka said Zeman supported the establishment of a special type of firms to employ socially disadvantaged and disabled people and receive certain benefits from the state for this, for instance, tax reliefs.
“The president is of the view that the Government Legislative Council is a very important body that should see to the pure character of laws,” Chvojka said.
They also talked about possible constitutional changes. They agreed that they should be carried out in a comprehensive way and after a deep discussion with experts, Chvojka added.
As far as the prepared bill on social housing is concerned, both Zeman and the CSSD support the variant that would provide social housing for single mothers, young people released from children’s homes and domestic violence victims, Chvojka said.
They also discussed the regulation of lobbying and the bill related to it. However, Zeman thinks that the efforts to bring lobbying under control will fail again, Chvojka added.
Zmena and Chvojka also briefly talked about the amendment to the conflict of interest law, dubbed Lex Babis, which would prevent ministers’ firms from seeking public contracts, discretionary subsidies and incentives, which Zeman challenged with the Constitutional Court (US).
The legislation was aimed at the firms owned by Finance Minister, ANO chairman and billionaire businessman Andrej Babis.
Chvojka said he thought Zeman would not succeed with his complaint.
Chvojka said they had also touched upon the HateFree Culture campaign to fight manifestations of racial and other hatred that Chvojka decide to halt in April
“I would not like to fully abandon this agenda, some part of money form the state budget should always go to it, but a question is whether HateFree was the right project,” Chvojka said.
The debate with Zeman and his advisers was followed by a tete-a-tete meeting with Zeman.
Zeman welcomed the change in the post of human rights minister where Chvojka replaced Jiri Dienstbier at the end of November 2016.
When he arrived in the Lany Chateau, Chvojka noted that Zeman had not invited Dienstbier to Lany.
Zeman holds meetings with ministers and his advisers at the Lany Chateau about once a month. Previously, he met Foreign Minister Lubomir Zaoralek (CSSD) in mid-January.
