Prague, March 24 (CTK) – Residents of Prague should make a decision on whether Prague will seek to host the Summer Olympic Games in a municipal referendum, Senator Sona Paukrtova (for the Open Society Party) told journalists on Tuesday.
The group of public figures around Paukrtova wants to collect 60,000 signatures which is the condition for the Prague City Hall to call the referendum, Paukrtova said.
The group advocating a plebiscite on the Olympic Games in Prague that includes, for instance, former Prague mayor Jan Kasl, presented their plan at Tuesday’s press conference.
“Prague residents should decide on the Olympics in a referendum for two reasons. First is their high costs which means that the money would be lacking in other spheres. The second is people’s support for the event,” Paukrtova said.
She said the situation similar to that during the recent Nordic World Ski championship in Liberec, north Bohemia, when Liberec residents were leaving the town en mass as they had not identified themselves with the event should not repeat.
Prague Mayor Pavel Bem (senior ruling Civic Democrats, ODS) who is promoting the idea of the Czech Republic hosting the Summer Olympics pointed to the positive experience with the Liberec championship while advocating Prague as the venue of the Summer Olympics.
However, the mayors of the towns and villages in the Liberec area disagree with Bem, Martin Puta, mayor of the Hradek nad Nisou, told journalists.
Paukrtova said she estimated the costs of the referendum at 150,000 crowns and said that the Mayors and Independents civic association would finance it.
At least 35 percent of eligible voters should take part in a referendum for its results being valid.
The mayors proposed that Bem call a referendum a year ago but they meant a general referendum. Bem rejected the idea saying that a referendum could be called only if the consent of the government were needed to host the Olympics.
The mayors believe that most money that would go from public sources would be swallowed by grandiose sport events and no money would be left for the development of the country.
The costs of the Olympic Games are estimated at over half a billion crowns, which is half of the Czech Republic’s state budget, Paukrtova said.
The preparation for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games should start in 2013-2014 when the country would no longer draw money from the EU funds, she said.
($1=19.777 Czech crowns)
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