Mayor candidates 2010: Jiří Dienstbier Jr.

The Social Democrats' (ČSSD) candidate for the post of Prague mayor is Jiří Dienstbier Jr., son of Senator and former Foreign Affairs Minister Jiří Dienstbier, one of the first 250 to sign the anti-communist Charter 77 petition.

The ČSSD, while garnering the most votes in May's general election, suffered a de facto defeat when it was unable to find partners to form a government coalition. This forced the resignation of party leader Jiří Paroubek and is leading the party to rethink its priorities.

At a recent interview at Kavárna Retro, Dienstbier made his position on cooperation at the city level very clear.

"I am ready to negotiate with anyone who is ready to help create a more transparent and less corrupt atmosphere in Prague City Hall," Dienstbier said. "I cannot imagine that would be possible with the people who are responsible for the current way the city is run, and who are acting in direct opposition to what I consider transparency."

Dienstbier did not stop there.

"If you look at the [Civic Democratic Party, ODS's] list of candidates, all the notorious politicians, the usual suspects like Milan Richter, Rudolf Blážek, Pavek Klega, Marie Kousálíková and Boris Štastný, who are known for their connections to, as [former Prime Minister Mirek] Topolánek put it, 'the Prague godfathers,' are there," Dienstbier said. "To put enough trust into them to form a coalition would be impossible. I would feel like a mafia member if I tried to negotiate with these people."

Dienstbier, who grew up in a dissident household, was a student leader in 1989's Velvet Revolution, has a law degree and is presently the shadow justice minister. He says his personal motto is "freedom and dignity," and in line with that credo, he condemns a recent suggestion by ODS City Councilor Jiří Janeček to build a homeless "camp" on the outskirts of the city to help keep the city's homeless out of the public eye.

"Of course, the solution of the so-called 'homeless camp' is absolutely nonsensical, if only for the fact that the city has no way of forcing homeless persons to move to such a camp," Dienstbier said. "They wouldn't go there on their own accord, and forcing them is not possible in a democratic state."

The ODS has since stepped back from this proposal.

Instead, Dienstbier says the Social Democrats plan to invest time and money into preventive measures such as creating more affordable housing options by building more apartment buildings. Other suggestions to help combat the issue of homelessness, considered Prague's most pressing problem by a majority of the city's residents, seem less specific and in some cases, rather idealistic: creating more resources for the homeless such as shelters and drop-ins providing medical services, supporting field-work in general and monitoring tenants who fall behind on their rent to prevent capital dwellers from finding themselves without a place to stay.

And what does he consider the top priority for the next Prague mayor?

"The basic issue that needs to be dealt with before any other problems the city has can be resolved is corruption in City Hall," Dienstbier said.

Sarah Borufka can be reached at
sborufka@praguepost.com