Government parties to ask outgoing finance minister for written confirmation on super-tender

The heads of the three parties negotiating on the government will ask outgoing finance minister Eduard Janota for written confirmation that the Czech Republic will not be in danger of facing arbitration proceedings if it fails to choose a winner in a controversial environmental tender. The so-called super-tender - worth an estimated 115 billion crowns – merges hundreds of smaller projects on cleaning up the environment, but has been strongly criticised by both activists and politicians for being potentially open to corruption. One of the parties negotiating on the new government, TOP 09, is in favour of scrapping the tender outright. The Finance Minister Janota suggested earlier that cancelling it would leave the country open to being sued by firms taking part. Instead, he floated the idea that the government could simply fail to choose a final winner. Three firms out of an original six are in the running; a final decision on bids has to be taken by early December.