This short video explains everything you may have ever wanted to know about the Reconstruction of the State, but were afraid to ask.
The Czech Republic suffers from some of the worst corruption in the world. In order to fight it dozens of activists and experts got together to push for nine anticorruption bills aimed at increasing transparency while stopping conflicts of interest and misuse of public funds. The centerpiece of their efforts? A public pledge to support the anticorruption measures, which they put before every member of parliament.
At first, progress was painfully slow. But during snap elections in 2013, hundreds of volunteers took our cause directly to the candidates. Ultimately, 165 out of 200 members of parliament promised to support the reforms.
But the initial victory was short-lived. Eventually, parliament passed only one of the nine bills. The rest succumbed to an onslaught of excuses, delays, lobbyists, and political infighting. As the tide turned against reform, members of parliament started to demonize the pledge itself, calling us blackmailers, extremists, and radicals. The media eventually moved on to other issues.
Despite all these obstacles, we managed to get five of the proposed reforms passed by working with a small group of politicians across the party lines who actively advocated for the bills. Our initiative also inspired other coalitions to lead similar campaigns both at home and in neighboring countries. It’s a step in the right direction for a country that desperately needs to change the way it does business.
In mid-December, the European Commission acknowledged a large part of the arguments put forward by the Czechia in an effort to prevent the expansion and continuation of illegal mining at the Turów mine in Poland, that endangers the sources of drinking water for thousands of people in the Liberec region and, according to new studies, has serious impacts on groundwater in Germany as well. Frank Bold's lawyers, who defend the interests of Czech citizens, have long been involved in the case.
The Frank Bold Society and the Neighbourhood Association Uhelná called on the Czech government today to be more consistent in its negotiations with Poland over mining at the Turów brown coal mine. According to both organisations, the government did not have enough information or time to prepare an agreement that would truly protect Czech interests. Moreover, the government has acted in a non-transparent manner by failing to inform the public in advance of the terms of the agreement being prepared, which should lead to the withdrawal of the action against Poland at the EU Court of Justice. The organisations have therefore drawn up a document with seven basic demands on which the Czech side should insist.
The European Commission recently introduced a draft of the revised EU ETS Directive which, among other things, proposes that 100 % of ETS revenues should be used for environmental measures. We welcome this idea but we’re also sceptical about how the ETS revenues are used in the Czech Republic. Therefore, we have prepared an analysis mapping the use of ETS revenues in Czech Republic and sent it to the European Commission as an input for the recent public consultation. The main conclusions are presented below.
