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TOP 09: Either Bátora resigns or we leave the government

22 October 2012
3 minute read

The dispute in the Czech Government over Ladislav Bátora, who is head of the D.O.S.T. movement and director of human resources at the Czech Education Ministry, is starting to endanger the cabinet and is growing into a serious crisis. According to Czech Foreign Minister and TOP 09 party chair Karel Schwarzenberg, the question of Bátora’s resignation from the ministry is so essential that TOP 09 will leave the government altogether unless he steps down. Fellow party members of Czech Education Minister Josef Dobeš (Public Affairs – VV) also say they want to lean on him. František Dobšík, head of a union of educational workers, has also taken a stance against Bátora’s engagement at the ministry.

“If [Bátora] doesn’t resign, we will leave government. This is a fundamental matter. Either we are still a democratic republic, or we view fascism as a rather interesting opinion which should be represented at the Education Ministry. This is much more important to me than budget numbers or the question of a consulate in some country,” Schwarzenberg told the daily Právo today.

Dobeš, however, is standing firmly by his employee, whom he hired at the recommendation of the Office of the Czech President. When asked whether he would fire Bátora, he said: “I am definitely not considering it. I am not considering removing Mr Bátora. I insist on that position.”Czech PM Petr Nečas (ODS) has called for the calming of emotions sparked by the friction over the Bátora affair and has taken a dig at TOP 09, asking the party why it did not boycott the government right away when Bátora was appointed to his high position. He also asked why TOP 09 representatives did not join him in preventing Bátora from being appointed deputy minister.

“TOP 09 did not support me when, several months ago, I opposed the appointment of Mr Bátora to the post of deputy minister,” Nečas said in a press release. The Czech PM says he continues to take exception to Bátora staying on in his post as human resources director at the ministry, but believes the matter should be resolved calmly and should not interrupt the reform steps in progress. Nečas believes those steps are becoming even more important the closer another economic crisis looms.

“I agree with the Prime Minister that the situation should not escalate. It should be resolved. That it why we would welcome his resolving the situation instead of issuing press releases,” Czech Finance Minister Kalousek said, who earlier confirmed that only deputy ministers will be attending upcoming cabinet sessions on behalf of TOP 09 until Bátora is gone.

František Dobšík, chair of the Czech-Moravian Union of Educational Workers (Českomoravský odborový svaz pracovníků školství) has also leaned on Bátora. Speaking on the Impuls radio station, he said Bátora has no claim on the Education Ministry, adding that the Czech Education Minister’s stance on the issue is incomprehensible.

“I don’t know what the hidden reasons are here, why [the minister] is keeping that person on there at any cost. I would definitely never appoint him to such a position. There has been a sort of merry-go-round in certain posts recently, so I don’t even know precisely who is the director of the [ministry] cabinet when so many have come and gone,” Dobšík said.

In Dobšík’s view, the Education Minister’s statements about how many bureaucrats he plans to fire and how many directly-managed organizations he intends to close have not contributed to stability. Dobšík said non-teaching staff members should retain their current salaries while teachers’ salaries should be increased.

“That stagnation would mean, however, that if pupil numbers fell and savings had to be made in terms of staff, then those savings should remain solely within the framework of the particular section concerned, which in this case is likely to be regionally-managed education. I’m not saying it will be possible to achieve any significant improvement, but definitely the school directors, if they want to be efficient, would at least still have enough funds in their budgets to do so,” the union head said.

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