Prague, Sept 7 (CTK) – The Czech Pirates want to curb red tape, interconnect databases and registers ran by state institutions, control those in power and defend human freedoms, their leader Ivan Bartos said at the presentation of their election campaign on Thursday.
“The Pirates aim at a free, digitally interconnected society,” Bartos said.
The general election is due on October 20-21. The Pirate Party has never won parliamentary seats in the country. The latest opinion poll showed that it may narrowly cross the 5-percent threshold to enter the Chamber of Deputies.
The Pirate election slogan is “Not All Steal” – a paraphrase of the statement “all steal” by Andrej Babis, leader of the ANO movement, which is the clear favourite of the elections.
Bartos said one should encourage honest and skilful people rather than keep accusing others.
The Pirates promote support for entrepreneurs without state subsidies, withdrawal of subsidies for biofuel production and a thorough checks of subsidies granted to farmers. They want the members of supervisory and administrative boards of state-controlled companies to be selected through competitions instead of chosen by politicians.
The Pirates would like to introduce a flat tax at the level of 47 percent, which would replace all the other taxes.
Pirates deputy head Jakub Michalek said this would lower the tax burden for people by 1.6 percentage points. Every citizen would save 7500 crowns a year, and the annual state budget revenues would be two billion crowns lower.
The party also wants to reduce copyright fees, ban censorship on the Internet, make democracy more direct and change the rules for distraint proceedings.
