TOP 09 says Šumava controversy should be resolved in civilized manner

One of the ruling parties in the Czech coalition government TOP 09 has asked the park’s management and environment activists to go back to the negotiating table and resolve the matter in a civilized manner. The party’s leader, Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg said the controversy had come to resemble a pseudo-religious war in which neither side was willing to listen to the arguments of the other. He criticized the park’s management for sidelining academicians who were ready to give valuable advice and said the Environment Ministry was doing nothing to diffuse the tension. TOP 09 said it had received assurances from environment activists that if the ministry organized a round-table debate on the matter they would end the blockade.