Public Affairs put themselves and the government on the edge of collapse

The Czech government is teetering on collapse as the junior coalition party, Public Affairs, has said it will pull out unless a number of major concessions are met. Reactions to the demands from its coalition partners were no less than furious, and even if the party backs down - as it has on similar occasions – it seems that either the coalition or Public Affairs itself will soon collapse under the tension. Christian Falvey has this report:

Radek John, photo: CTK

Over less than two years the Czech government has withstood massive strikes, persistent public protests and resounding scandals. Escalating discord within the coalition though may prove to be the proverbial last straw.

Citing alleged evidence that their coalition partners had tried to orchestrate a coup within Public Affairs, the party’s wider leadership spent seven hours Tuesday in debate over a motion to leave the government – a threat Public Affairs has made so often now that almost no one anticipated the result:

“The ongoing crisis of trust between the coalition partners, along with long unresolved problems, has also caused a crisis of the people’s trust in the government. The Public Affairs leadership therefore calls on the party’s ministers to immediately tender their resignations to Prime Minister Nečas, effective May 1.”

Party Chairman Radek John speaking to reporters Tuesday evening. The fact that the party once again chose to make its announcement through the media rather than behind the closed doors of a cabinet meeting added insult to injury for Prime Minister Petr Nečas.

Petr Nečas, photo: CTK

“I will not accept any kind of extortion or ultimata. The causes of the lack of confidence in the government come primarily from within Public Affairs, and they should search their consciences. Their statement offers nothing constructive, but only tells others what to do. I expect representatives of Public Affairs to inform me of their views in person rather than through the media and I will be ready to discuss them. If these developments lead to the collapse of the government, I have no fear of early elections, which I think would be the most responsible course under the circumstances.”

Public Affairs’ demands are audacious. The statement from the party’s leadership blames public mistrust of the government on controversies involving the state forestry company, the state prosecutor’s office and social welfare allowances – all of which are domains of the other two governing parties. No mention is made of the party’s own scandals – some of which go back to open court this week. Prime Minister Nečas is to reshuffle his cabinet to improve its credibility, provide a comprehensive plan for merging state institutions, revamp the coalition agreement and request a vote of confidence from Parliament.

Public Affairs meeting, photo: CTK

The ultimatum met with an even more withering response from the deputy chairman of the governing TOP 09 party, Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek, who outdid his reputation for not mincing words:

“Under no circumstances will we allow ourselves to be blackmailed. If the ministers of Public Affairs resign, we will negotiate with serious partners, hence with the Civic Democrats. The fairest solution would be early elections as soon as possible. That would not bring the Czech Republic anything good, but it would have the positive effect of ridding the Czech political scene of something as slimy and disgusting as the Public Affairs party.”

Exactly what response Public Affairs did expect is hard to imagine, but this apparently was not it, and from here the plot thickens quickly.

Karolína Peake, photo: CTK

Just as their chairman announced he had their resignations in his pocket, Public Affairs’ ministers defied the leadership’s decision. Deputy prime minister Karolína Peake pointed out on Wednesday that according to the constitution she could only give her resignation to the prime minister, while Transportation Minister Pavel Dobeš said he had no intention of further deepening the crisis by resigning, and said he did not understand what his party’s leadership was doing. The party leadership has responded by demanding that their initial resolution be respected and the party resign from government pending the fulfilment of their conditions. With that it seems Public Affairs is positioning itself for the very split they feared was being orchestrated for them, and either the party or the government is near the breaking point.