Government approves church property restitution

The Czech government on Wednesday approved legislation on the restitution of church property. Under the new bill, 17 Czech churches and religious societies will get back 56 percent of the property confiscated by the communist regime in the 1950s. For the rest, the churches will receive 59 billion crowns, plus inflation, over the period of 30 years.

The decision comes after a heated dispute within the coalition; the junior Public Affairs opposed the bill but eventually agreed to support it after PM Nečas promised the respective funds would not be drawn from the ministries run by Public Affairs politicians.