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Čunek's Roma comment raises ire

Greens call coalition meeting while others demand he step down

By Kimberly Ashton
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
April 4th, 2007 issue

Deputy Prime Minister Jiří Čunek, chairman of the Christian Democrats, seems once again to have gotten himself into trouble. And, with the latest in what is amounting to a series of scandals, cries for his resignation are growing louder.

The most recent flap involves comments he made in the March 30 issue of Blesk, a popular tabloid. A reader asked how non-Roma could receive housing subsidies as Roma do. Čunek replied, “For this you would have to get sunburned, make a mess with your family, put up fires on town squares, and only then some politicians would say, ‘He is a really miserable man.’ ”
The Green Party has called for a coalition meeting to discuss Čunek’s statements. Džamila Stehlíková, a Green Party minister who handles minority issues, said the meeting, which Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek is expected to attend, is scheduled for the night of April 3. She said she would like Čunek to explain his comment. His apology, Stehlíková said, is unacceptable because it was made under pressure.
Čunek said his words were taken out of context. “It was not aimed at Roma, but at us, politicians. We should not help those who do not behave properly,” he said.
Topolánek said the Civic Democrats’ Executive Council considers the statement immensely incorrect.
Čunek is known for his expulsion of Romany families from the center of Vsetín, east Moravia, when he was mayor. He says the families were in default of their rent. Čunek had the families relocated to tin containerlike houses on the outskirts of town or resettled elsewhere in Moravia.
More recently, Čunek has been accused of accepting a half-million-crown bribe in 2002, although he denies the allegation.
Amid these scandals, a number of politicians have demanded that Čunek step down. But his party, the Christian Democrats (KDU-ČSL), has continued to support him.
This puts Topolánek in a tight spot, according to Vladimíra Dvořáková, professor of political science at Prague’s University of Economics.
“I think if there is very strong support for Čunek within the Christian Democrats, it’s very difficult for Topolánek to force Čunek to resign. … We’ll have to see whether [the KDU-ČSL] continue to support him. Topolánek cannot afford to lose that party.”
Hilda Hoy contributed to this report.

Kimberly Ashton can be reached at kashton@praguepost.com


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