Tripartite negotiations over the budget reach no consensus

Representatives of the government, trade unions and employers did not come to an agreement over the proposal for next year’s budget during tripartite negotiations on Monday. Union representatives rejected the budget proposals, and business representatives have reservations about it. Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek said the government will send the budget proposal to the lower house in its current state along with the statements from the trade union and employers’ representatives. These were the first such negotiations in the past half a year, and there were doubts about whether they would take place at all after a spat between Prime Minister Petr Nečas and the head of the Bohemian-Moravian Confederation of Trade Unions last week. Trade union representatives have walked out of tripartite negotiations a number of times in the past.