• 21/02/2023
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Stanjura: We do not want to reduce salaries or pension - Novinky.cz<

Stanjura: We do not want to reduce salaries or pensions

When do you believe Spolu will have a new government?

We have already declared that we want to have a coalition agreement by the constituent meeting of the House of Representatives, i.e. until November 8. According to the signals I have, we should have a new government by the end of the year, which I would consider extremely fast. Even if it was only in January, it would be a standard time for the Czech Republic. We would also be among the fastest in Europe.

The current government has fourteen ministries, although only thirteen ministers. Will you keep their number?

That is still under negotiation and I am not able to answer in a way that applies. First, we will discuss the joint coalition program, and only then will the debate about the structure of the government, i.e. how many ministries it will have, come up. After that, it will be the turn of the division between coalitions, then within coalitions, and only then will we deal with personnel, so we haven't discussed this yet.

I ask mainly because there are already speculations that the government would create a new ministry for digitization or informatics.

These speculations usually do not correspond to reality. But if anyone read our pre-election program carefully, we already stated in it that we wanted to create the office of the Deputy Prime Minister for digitization. We consider the digitization of public administration to be one of the most important tasks of the next government. But we are yet to compare this idea with future colleagues and see if they agree with it. Anyway, it's not surprising.

In your opinion, should the pirates, who have four MPs, demand two or three ministries in the government, as they have already declared?

We started negotiations not as five parties, but as two coalitions and in such a format further negotiations will also take place. We will agree as a coalition of Spolu and PirSTAN, and then it is up to our partners how they will share the responsibility. We will divide the ministries within the coalition and so will they, it depends on them.

We don't want to play the game that the chairman of one party refuses responsibility for another coalition party and vice versa, that's not very happy. The prime minister should be responsible for the government as a whole.

But the government will be led by Petr Fiala from ODS. Shouldn't he, as prime minister, have the right of veto in the selection of ministers?

The right of veto is probably too strong a word. I assume that the prime minister will talk to all the nominees individually. It is true that we should build by consensus, and if there are any doubts, we must dispel them or move on. The right of veto is too strong, but it is true that the prime minister is responsible for the government. We don't want to play the game that the chairman of one party refuses responsibility for another coalition party and vice versa, that's not very happy. The prime minister should be responsible for the government as a whole.

You don't want to talk about occupying the resorts yet, but some politicians have already started talking about it themselves. For example, the chairman of STAN Vít Rakušan announced in an interview for Právo that he will seek the position of Minister of the Interior.

But this is not surprising information. He already said before the election that he was interested in this resort. However, we are a conservative party and we want to agree on the program first. It will follow the steps I already said. We will certainly not communicate through the media what we want and what we do not want and what the train does not pass through. Negotiations are proceeding relatively smoothly so far.

The new government: two seats for the Pirates, six for the ODS and the prime minister? Home

Chairman Petr Fiala at the press conference referred the question about the fall of Bohemia Energy to the chairman of the People's Party Marian Jurečka. Does this mean that he is already counting on him as the Minister of Industry?

That is certainly not the case, but Marian Jurečka has been paying a lot of attention to energy recently. He worked on the Energy Act and the Act on the Promotion of the Use of Renewable Resources. When I look at the list of chairmen of the coalition parties, he is certainly closest to energy.

Also, Vlastimil Válek (TOP 09) has recently given several interviews, from which it looks as if he is already preparing for the position of Minister of Health. In one of them, for example, he said that it is normal for an unbooked patient to wait six hours in the hospital for treatment. Aren't such statements unfortunate even before the formation of the government?

I do not know about this interview and it is difficult for me to evaluate the happy or less happy statements of the individual nominees for ministers. I don't even know if TOP 09 will nominate MP Válek for any position.

You have already declared that you want to cut the budget for next year to the outgoing government. Where will you cut and where will you take it?

This will emerge from the program statement of the government, but some detailed things were also included in the pre-election programs of the individual parties. What I assumed is true, namely that there will be a temporary budget. If the current government is still present when approving the budget, I assume that the new House will return it. And if there is a new government, it will withdraw the proposal.

If there are two or three months of the budget provisional, nothing dramatic will happen. Municipalities, but also the state, should be able to deal with it. If we manage to form a government, work will begin on budget adjustments that will correspond to the coalition program.

In terms of approving the state budget, isn't it unfortunate that the elections are in October?

It is unfortunate, but at the same time it is not easy to solve constitutionally. The electoral term is four years, and when the House of Representatives wanted to shorten it, the Constitutional Court refused. If the elections were held as before at the turn of May and June, it would be much more practical.

Your government will have to take unpopular measures. Where is the certainty that you will not have to resort to reducing salaries in the state sector or pensions?

I can rule that out, we do not intend to do anything like that.

Now energy, but also food and some medicines are becoming more expensive. Do you have a recipe ready to fight it?

We have to take into account that we have institutions to fight inflation. The Czech National Bank has already started this when it raises interest rates, and we will not interfere with their competences. The truth is that high state budget deficits are one of the domestic causes of inflation. Even the CNB's measures will not take effect overnight, they have some inertia. As far as energy prices are concerned, there must be a combination of two types of measures, both at the national level and at the European level.

Food, medicines, trains and clothes will become more expensive Economy

You will have to make big compromises in the name of social peace. Are you sure that the coalition of five will last?

I firmly believe that it will, although I cannot be sure. We don't even have a coalition agreement yet. We have a great responsibility given that we succeeded in the elections. This is of greater value than different views on some topics. But I don't expect big program differences between us.

Conservative parties like ODS are socially sensitive by nature. But there is a difference between "social" and "socialist", even if some confuse it. Social peace is very valuable to society, and it is generally desirable that the ditches be gradually filled in.

After all, Petr Fiala's first post-election speech was carried out precisely in this spirit, that we are all citizens of the Czech Republic. We will proceed in this spirit even after the elections. In politics, we are supposed to be rivals and fight with each other with the power of arguments, presenting quality programs to the voters on the basis of which they can make a decision. But we should not divide, set students and grandparents against each other, or young families against more experienced ones.

There are a million people who lost their vote in the election. They will be angry at everything the government does. In addition, you will have a united opposition of ANO and SPD against you.

We are ready for it. A large number of votes were lost in other elections as well, the truth is that now their number is a record. It is also because we managed to increase voter turnout (to 65 percent).

At the end of the campaign, we called on people to come to the polls, and as a result, some parties ended up with just under five percent. I believe that the ČSSD will return to the House next time, because every country needs a democratic left. However, I do not think that the voters of more radical parties have the same attitude towards the government, these votes cannot be added up. Of course, it depends on how the government will proceed and, above all, how it will explain its steps. In addition, we have 35 percent of voters who did not vote for anyone anyway.

We certainly want to reduce the number of officials. But to reduce their numbers, we must first cancel unnecessary agendas.

You promised to slim down the state. Does this mean you are going to fire civil servants?

We definitely want to reduce the number of civil servants. But to reduce their numbers, we must first abolish unnecessary agendas. Many clerkships exist only on paper, some clerks will retire. I don't blame those people for working for the state. But it is true everywhere that we have great officials and average officials. The great ones don't have to worry about not finding a job.

You blame Babiš's government for recruiting civil servants, but mostly they were teachers, policemen and firemen...

Sixteen thousand civil servants are extra, these are facts. They quite rightly argue how many teachers, firefighters and police officers they hired. We have those numbers too, but it just doesn't fit.

Will you cancel the electronic registration of sales, as you promised?

We as ODS will definitely want to cancel it and will discuss it. The government of Andrej Babiš has itself admitted that the EET burdens entrepreneurs and the benefit is not great. Just read the arguments from our speeches in the House of Representatives when we voted against. But we are only at the beginning of negotiations on the program.

The new MPs are likely to overturn the budget beyond recognitionEconomy

Will even the people who helped approve it in Babiš's government and boasted that there will be less theft after its introduction want to abolish EET?

This problem is not even that pressing , because EET is off until next year anyway. We know the views of KDU-ČSL very well and we have discussed it. Our compromise was materialized in a joint program.

Will you also want to cancel fare discounts for seniors and young people?

This system will certainly not work as it does today. Personally, I consider the blanket discounts on fares to be wrong, this whole principle is wrong. I know a lot of seniors who don't get any of this because they don't need or can't travel. I don't think the system as it is set up is fair. All help must be addressed.

Are you ready for full squares if you give people some assurances?

We haven't shown anything yet. I don't know if the square will be full or not, and I don't want to speculate on that. First of all, we have to explain well to the citizens why the government takes such steps and what the meaning of its decisions, measures and laws are. I also consider cooperation with the professional public to be very important.

The Spolu coalition has clearly declared that it will not raise taxes. None of our parties had it on their agenda.

One of the coalition MPs, Hayato Okamura (KDU-ČSL), has already said that he hopes that the new government will not act too right-wing and that higher taxation of the rich is up for discussion. Do you not expect tension in the coalition because of taxes?

I believe not. The Spolu coalition has clearly declared that it will not raise taxes. None of our parties had it on their agenda.

The parliamentary committee, headed by František Vácha from TOP 09, stated that Andrej Babiš sent money for the purchase of real estate in France from a Czech bank, so he did not launder any money. Even according to the Financial Analysis Office, there was no suspicious transaction. You pointed out the Pandora Papers case in the campaign, will you now apologize to Babiš?

In my opinion, we did not use this case in the campaign in any way, rather we were relatively restrained. We said it had to be investigated. The key political question is still why Andrej Babiš did it so complicatedly.

The new government will have to deal with the covid pandemic. You yourself said that you would abolish mandatory respirators. Even in your election staff, although you declared that respiratory protection would be mandatory at all times, practically no one had it.

First of all, we will rely on our Anticovid team, where we have top experts. I don't see the need for respirators where the same people meet over and over again. In addition, people often got vaccinated against covid precisely so that they did not have to wear masks, this was an important motivating factor.

The moment we persuade citizens to vaccinate and at the same time tell them that they must still wear masks, the willingness of the unvaccinated to decide to get vaccinated is greatly reduced. This is very problematic.

So will you promote mandatory vaccination, for example for some employment sectors?

No, I can't imagine that at all. Vaccination must remain voluntary. Although I know many politicians who fight against mandatory vaccination, on the other hand, I do not know of anyone who would actually propose it in a political debate.

Free tests are to end from December, said the chief hygienistDomácí

But if the government declares that only vaccinated people will be allowed to enter restaurants, what else is that? Alternatively, if the validity of the tests is shortened, for antigen tests to one day and for PCR to three days.

I consider this to be nonsense for restaurants. Both in terms of content and implementation. If the state imposes an obligation and is serious about it, it must know exactly how to enforce it. This doesn't just apply to covid, I'm talking in general.

Regarding shortening the validity of tests, I am not an expert here, but it is true that this has almost the character of compulsory vaccination. The government needs to admit what it really means. It looks like the government is telling people to stay at home and only go to the park, that they won't let them anywhere else anyway.

So how will your government fight the pandemic?

I say again that we have experts for this in the Anticovid team. I promote volunteerism. The state must educate well and have every obligation well justified. Not the chaotic jumble of measures we've been used to.

How do you assess the events surrounding the sick President Miloš Zeman? The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Radek Vondráček, visited him in the intensive care unit with Chancellor Vratislav Mynář, while the Central Military Hospital later expressed that Vondráček had nothing to do there, etc.

I wish Mr. President that he recovers as soon as possible and he better. The Chamber would have met on November 8 anyway even without the President's signature, so I don't understand why the Speaker of the Chamber and the Chancellor went to see him for a signature, which is actually unnecessary.

As for Mr. Vondráček's statements, when he comments on the president's state of health, it says a lot about him. The ÚVN's statement was diplomatically written, but it can be seen that they were extremely upset.

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