It said it believed that even the group around former finance minister Vlastimil Tlusty that, along with the opposition, did not want to let the bill go to the Chamber of Deputies committees would eventually allow the bill to be passed. Under the bill submitted by the government, churches are to be returned one-third of their former property, confiscated by the Communists, and to receive 83 billion crowns in compensation for the rest.
The compensation is to be gradually paid in the following 60 years. Along with the interests, the sum would climb up to 270 billion crowns. Critics of the legislation point out that the government thereby gives churches preferential treatment, compared to other property restitution Czechs to get "early" sickness benefits again as of July - Necas ...
Czech government may be toppled in no confidence vote - Paroubek ...
Czech state spending on social services rise steeply - minister ... claimants. The party also stressed the need of the health reform and refused to "diminish" the government programme in this sphere. The party insists that the agreement with the churches is necessary as it will unblock the property of the state, regional authorities and municipalities, Petr Tluchor, chairman of the ODS deputies' group, told journalists. The legislation will create conditions for a gradual financial separation of the church from the state, Tluchor said. Tluchor said he believed the ODS would speak with the disgruntled deputies at the Tuesday meeting of the group and later maybe also individually. Petr Necas, Labour and Social Affairs Minister and a deputy chairman of the ODS, said the government was ready to provide further relevant documents demanded by the bill's critics. "We are naturally ready to provide more or less completed versions of the document. But there is the question of whether it will have any impact on our counterparts' position," Necas said. ODS senior officials are of the view that the party rebels want to disintegrate the current coalition, while the church law is only being used as an excuse. The coalition government would like the Chamber of Deputies to end the first round of the parliamentary debate on the legislation in question at the May session. However, the lawmakers will probably only debate it again in June. ($1 = 16.113 crowns)
(Ceske Noviny)
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