Senator wants negligent officials fined

Senator Jana Jurencakova has come up with a proposal that should improve the performance of MPs, senators and government officials. According to the proposal, MPs and senators who don’t turn up for parliamentary sessions as well as government ministers who fail to answer parliamentary inquiries should be fined. Ms Jurencakova said she was motivated by the hesitation of PM Mirek Topolanek to answer her questions concerning the distribution of EU funds. Civic Democratic MP Jan Morava suggested a similar measure earlier this year; PM Mirek Topolanek then said that the proposal was populist because MPs’ performance cannot be measured purely on the basis of their attendance of parliamentary votes.