Jan Fischer’s cabinet, which will lead the country until the elections next spring will not privatise Prague Airport. Finance Minister Eduard Janota told E15: “I can definitely rule that out.”
Janota said this in reaction to the discussion among political parties concerning priorities of Fischer’s cabinet. While Social Democrats. Communists and Christian Democrats reject both privatisation of Prague Airport and Czech Airlines, the Civic Democrats support it under certain circumstances.
“I don’t think the cabinet should put it aside. However, if the sale proves disadvantageous then ČSA should not be sold, of course. The same goes for the airport,” said Petr Nečas, ODS deputy chair. “The cabinet does not have a mandate to decide about the airport. And even if they wanted to accelerate the process, they would not make it before their time runs out. The decision can be made in autumn 2010 at the earliest,” ČSSD deputy chair Milan Urban said. He did not want to speculate on whether the lower chamber will support his party’s proposal to ban the sale of the airport. “Fischer’s cabinet has no mandate for the sale of the airport,” said Cyril Svoboda, head of KDU-ČSL. Leader of the Communists, Vojtěch Filip, expressed similar opinion. He considers the sale of the Prague Airport and ČSA among the least clarified issues in connection with the caretaker government. “Cabinet should definitely stop both processes,” Filip said.
Urban added that alongside the preparation and endorsement of the budget in the lower house, the cabinet should also quickly draft a strategy to reduce the impact of the crisis. “Budget does deal with the deficit but it is not pro-growth. It is necessary to support pro-export policies and to invest into energy so that the domestic industry be strengthened. Most definitely, more effective use of the European funds needs to be solved,” Urban said. According to Nečas, the cabinet’s tasks are “more of a minimalist kind”. “It is nonsensical to live in an illusion that this lower chamber will push through anything with political charge before the elections,” he said. He did not reject a possible consensus when it comes to the new civic code, though. However, he perceives possible continuation of the pension reform with scepticism
