Prague, July 26 (CTK) – Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka praised Culture Minister Daniel Herman for an effective drawing of EU subsidies in support of culture, for heritage maintenance and the performance of state-run cultural institutions at their meeting at the close of the election term today.
Ahead of the October 20-21 general election, Sobotka (Social Democrats, CSSD) is meeting individual ministers separately to assess achievements in their respective sectors, his talks with Herman (Christian Democrats, KDU-CSL) being one of the first.
Sobotka said the Culture Ministry unfortunately failed to push through a bill introducing the status of a public corporation in culture, and a heritage conservation bill, though the government pledged to pass them in its policy statement from 2014.
Among the tasks still ahead of Herman, he mentioned the completion of the purchase of a pig farm that stands on the site of a former wartime Roma internment camp in Lety, south Bohemia, and should be removed.
Another nearest priority for the Culture Ministry is the organisation of the anniversaries of the establishment of Czechoslovakia in 1918 and the Prague Spring communist reform movement in 1968, and also a reconstruction of the National Gallery buildings, Sobotka said.
Sobotka said the government has succeeded in raising the average pay of culture workers by 35 percent, compared with the situation in 2013.
“On July 1, the cabinet approved a directive that further raises the wages of the sector’s worst-paid employees,” he said.
He praised the reconstruction of the baroque Klementinum complex, which is the National Library (NK) seat and where he met Herman today.
He also praised the recent reconstruction of the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague, the ongoing reconstruction of the National Museum and the State Opera historical buildings.
He mentioned an increase in the sum the state spends in support of cinematography.
Sobotka said two government-planned bills related to culture failed to be passed. As for the cultural public corporation bill, no suitable proposal was formulated for the cabinet and parliament to discuss. This is a task for the next government, he said.
He called “unfortunate” the fate of the heritage conservation bill, which was drafted by the Culture Ministry and approved by the cabinet, but it surprisingly failed in parliament earlier this month, sunk by the opposition together with some lawmakers from the government CSSD and ANO.
rtj/dr/kva
