Prague, Feb 6 (CTK) – The Czech Republic would like to boost its prestige in the EU by hosting one of the European agencies that will leave Britain within Brexit, but the plan threatens to fail due to extremely low wages that foreign workers earn in the country, daily Pravo writes yesterday.
The Czech Republic is eyeing the European Medicines Agency or the European Banking Authority, both based in London now, the daily writes.
However, the wages the EU pays to its employees in the Czech Republic and their perks covered by the Czech Republic are merely a fraction of those the EU staff enjoy in wealthier countries, Pravo writes.
Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka (Social Democrats, CSSD) mentions low wages of foreign workers as a serious handicap that may thwart the possible Czech candidacy, the daily writes.
Complaints about low wages have been heard from the employees of the so far single European agency based in the Czech Republic, the one that operates the Galileo satellite system and that moved from Brussels to Prague five years ago, the daily writes.
They say their wages are high enough to cover their life in Prague but make it difficult for them to meet their commitments back in their respective homelands. That is why many employees left the agency after its transfer from London to Prague, and the agency has problem fill the vacancies, the paper writes.
The foreign staff remain dissatisfied even though the Czech Republic covers the public transport fare in Prague for them, which is 3,650 crowns a year, and also the costs of a Czech language course worth 5,200 crowns.
Nor do the staff feel attracted by the offer of free family tickets to the Prague zoological and botany gardens, sports facilities, museums, galleries and cultural heritage sites, Pravo writes.
The same problem would be faced by the employees of another European agency if it moved to Prague. Their wages would be a half of what they are in London now, the daily says.
The wages are calculated based on a correction coefficient that is derived from the statistical data in the countries involved. Compared with the wage in Brussels, an EU employee in the Czech Republic earns 73.2 percent of it, while their counterparts in Britain reach 141.8 percent, Pravo writes.
The coefficient is defined by the European Commission. Prague cannot change it but can influence it.
Sobotka, in his report, writes that the weakening of the Czech crown by the Czech central bank’s (CNB) interventions has contributed to the lowering of the coefficient in recent years, the daily writes.
Sobotka admits that Prague’s plan has no chance if its rivals are countries with a higher coefficient. Seventeen EU countries have shown interest in hosting the medicine or banking agencies so far, Pravo writes.
The Czech cabinet has not yet reached consensus on whether to officially promote the plan. According to Pravo’s information, scepticism prevailed among the ministers at the cabinet meeting last week.
The chances for Prague to gain the banking authority seat was reportedly challenged by CNB Governor Jiri Rusnok, who said the Czech Republic is no banking tiger.
Health Minister Miloslav Ludvik (CSSD) was more optimistic. “The EMA medicine agency would suit the Czech Republic well,” he told Pravo, adding that the country does
