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Mayors' group combats radar

Association denounces talks on proposed base with state official

By Markéta Hulpachová
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
August 29th, 2007 issue

Protests against the planned U.S. radar base in the Czech Republic have unified the mayors of small towns in the Brdy region.
In an effort to streamline their position, municipal representatives from 31 central and west Bohemian towns around the Brdy military base announced Aug. 24 the establishment of an open association, which is to lobby government officials to oppose the radar.
The Defense Ministry currently intends to construct the radar base on the Brdy military base near Míšov, west Bohemia, about 90 kilometers (56 miles) southwest of Prague.
By forming the association, mayors reacted to an Aug. 22 closed meeting between six Brdy towns and government coordinator for defense policy Tomáš Klvaňa in the west Bohemian town of Spálené Poříčí.
“After this meeting, we started hearing in the media that Brdy mayors supported the radar base,” says the association’s coordinator and Příbram, central Bohemia, Mayor Josef Řihák, who was not invited to the meeting. “By forming this association, we wanted to make it clear that most towns are in fact staunchly opposed to it.”
The association discourages towns from communicating with Klvaňa.
“The government is insulting us by avoiding direct communication and sending this kind of negotiator,” says Jan Neoral, mayor of Trokavec, west Bohemia.
“This is a job for real experts — not for lobbyists with no conscience,” he adds.
Of the 34 municipalities approached, only Spálené Poříčí, Hrádek and Strašice refused to sign the association’s constituent document.  
 “We want to get more information,” says Hrádek Mayor Jaroslav Perlík. “Klvaňa is a representative of the national powers. We have no reason not to communicate with him.”
By negotiating with Klvaňa, the towns hope to obtain financial compensation for the water and energy limitations placed on them by the Brdy military base, which had been an issue long before the radar talks started, Perlík says.
The mayors’ association will meet Aug. 29 to determine a plan of action to coincide with the discussion of the radar base in the government’s Sept. 5 and 6 meeting, Řihák says.
A parliamentary decision regarding the stationing of the radar base is scheduled for next spring.

Markéta Hulpachová can be reached at mhulpachova@praguepost.com


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