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Stropnický sees greener pastures

Although revitalized and surging with young voters, Greens have critic within

By Julie O'Shea
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
June 13th, 2007 issue

Jan Přerovský/THE PRAGUE POST
"We are losing our topics and losing our color," said Matěj Stropnický, member of the Green Party — and one of its biggest critics.
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COURTESY PHOTO
Party Chairman Martin Bursík takes to the streets during Bike to Work day in Prague.
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The Stropnický file

Age: 23
Occupation: Student, Charles University's Faculty of Social Sciences
Countries lived in: Czech Republic, Portugal, Italy, Vatican City

Greens were barely a blip on the Czech political scene, 10 years ago.
Now, things are changing. The Green Party has seen a surge of young voters joining its ranks in recent years. And, in 2006, for the first time ever, the Greens entered Parliament, nabbing an unprecedented six seats in the Chamber of Deputies.
Many have credited current party Chairman Martin Bursík for the dramatic turnaround since he was elected in 2005. But his leadership has also been a lightning rod for controversy, with some of the heaviest criticism coming from within the party itself.
One of Bursík’s most unlikely opponents is a man half his age.
Matěj Stropnický, the 23-year-old son of a former ambassador, is not known for keeping his opinions to himself — even if he is in the minority. The ambitious twenty-something joined the Greens four years ago when he was just 19.
“I’m kind of used to facing people on my own,” he says with a chuckle.  
While Stropnický acknowledges that Bursík has brought credibility to the Greens, he also believes the party has been getting “too close to the right” since entering Parliament.
“We are losing our topics and losing our color,” Stropnický says during an interview in a Malá Strana park on a recent windy afternoon. “I’m afraid we are doing too many compromises — the compromises are too big, the centralization of the power is too big.”
Stropnický isn’t alone.
Bursík’s plan
Bursík, who is also environment minister, has been accused by other critics of not acting in the best interest of the Greens. He came under fire for throwing support toward a U.S. radar-base proposal, even though many in his party staunchly oppose the idea.
Bursík, through his office staff, declined repeated interview requests. However, he has been quoted extensively by the local press saying he’d support the base proposal if it were part of NATO.
Others within the Green Party apparently aren’t that accepting of the plan, including Stropnický.
“To me, it’s obvious what is supposed to be the position of the Greens,” he says. But right now “I don’t really understand our position.”
Petr Štěpánek, another longtime Green, chafes when asked if he thinks his party leader is making too many compromises. While he admits the handling of the radar base was “an embarrassment,” that’s “just one thing out of many issues,” he says.
“The Green Party has had the same policies before Bursík and after Bursík,” Štěpánek says. “Someone has to be a carrier of this policy … [and Bursík is] the first real leader of the Green Party.”
There’s no dispute about Bursík’s leadership qualities, says Bohumil Doležal, a political analyst.
“Originally, the party had a really bad reputation. It was not very trustworthy,” Doležal says. “The change came with Bursík. The party is moving in a more liberal direction.”
It’s that liberal move that has attracted voters who have suddenly found themselves dissatisfied with the country’s more established parties.  
Doležal is quick to dismiss criticism of the Greens and their leader.
“It is too early to draw some conclusions of this kind. The party is young,” Doležal says. “People don’t mind [Bursík’s] presence. He is not controversial. He does not use vulgar gestures. He is not being prosecuted by the police.”
Greens grow party
The Green Party was formed in early 1990. It would take 16 years, however, before the party would have enough polling power to enter the lower house of Parliament.
“We weren’t only elected because we were Green,” Stropnický says. “We were elected because we were a new force.”  
Even so, “people still feel threatened that environmental issues should be incorporated into all political thinking,” Štěpánek says.
Bursík didn’t join the Greens until 2004, one year before he was elected chairman. This is a sore point with his critics, who question whether Bursík is using the Greens to advance his political career. Bursík has adamantly denied such suggestions.
Bursík had “been in several parties in the ’90s,” Stropnický points out. “He could have come over [to the Greens] earlier.”
Stropnický, a lanky young man with long, disheveled brown hair, makes it no secret that he intends to make politics a long-term career goal.   
“I want to be a member of Parliament,” he says. “Some of us believe that the Greens aren’t supposed to be like the other [parties].”
Stropnický spent his childhood flitting around Europe. His father, Martin, was stationed in Portugal in the early ’90s and then in Italy and the Vatican.
The family moved home to Prague in 2002, when Martin decided to resume acting after a 13-year absence from the stage.
Toe in the waters
Asked if those years spent abroad helped shape his political ambitions, Stropnický nods his head. Even as he wades into the political waters in his home country, he is still wrapping up his studies as a student at Charles University’s Faculty of Social Sciences.
Although it is important to him that “the Greens have an influence on the [country’s] politics,” he says he is less concerned about breeding a future prime minister or even president.
“We can’t deal with too many things at once,” Stropnický says. “I’ve advanced quite quickly. I am quite happy right now.”
— Naďa Černá contributed to this report.
 

Julie O'Shea can be reached at joshea@praguepost.com


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