Prague, Sept 12 (CTK) – Czech President Milos Zeman supported the draft state budget for 2017 at a meeting of the tripartite that brings together representatives of the government, employers and trade unions yesterday, he told reporters after the meeting.
The cabinet interrupted its debate on the 2017 budget bill at its meeting later yesterday, as expected.
Before, PM Bohuslav Sobotka (Social Democrats, CSSD) said the cabinet would do so because some budgetary demands by ministries have yet to be discussed, but he expected the debate to continue and the budget to be approved by the cabinet in two weeks.
Zeman said he also wants to express support for the budget bill at the next cabinet meeting and in the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of parliament, during a debate on the budget.
The Finance Ministry has lowered the overall 2017 draft state budget revenues and expenditures by 15.4 billion crowns compared with the June bill, while the deficit is to stay at the projected 60 billion crowns.
The budget revenues are projected at 1,244.7 billion crowns and expenditures at 1,304.7 billion crowns next year.
The government of the CSSD, ANO and Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL) must approve the budget and send it to the Chamber of Deputies by the end of September.
Zeman appreciated yesterday’s tripartite talks as interesting with a constructive debate.
“I have supported the draft state budget. Not yesterday, but next time, I will appear at the government meeting to express this support there, too,” he said .
Zeman was originally to attend yesterday’s government meeting, but he changed his mind in view of the tripartite meeting where a number of stances were already presented, his spokesman Jiri Ovcacek said.
“The president expressed his arguments at the tripartite meeting,” Ovcacek told CTK.
The current 2017 budget bill provides for an increase in the wages of teachers, the health staff, police, firefighters, public administration employees and 22,000 soldiers.
The state will increase its health insurance payments for selected groups of inhabitants by a total of 3.6 billion crowns, compared with 2016.
The spending on science is to rise by 3.75 billion crowns.
The CSSD ministers still demand a 700-million-crown increase in the spending on social services, 300 million more for universities and 1.3 billion for financing anti-terrorism measures.
Labour and Social Affairs Minister Michaela Marksova (CSSD) told journalists during the cabinet meeting that the cabinet agreed on adding the 700 million to social services, but her sector still needs some 800 million to tackle persisting tasks.
The CSSD would also like to index pensions by an average of 300 crowns a month as of next year, instead of a 200-crowns rise embedded in the budget bill.
If the necessary sum of more than three billion crowns is not available, PM Sobotka will propose a one-off subsidy to pensions worth 1,200 crowns, the same as in 2016, he said.
Finance Minister Andrej Babis (ANO) agreed with the one-off subsidy, but he rejected the idea of a higher than planned indexation of pensions.
($1=23.975 crowns)
