Court rejects coalition budget

The Constitutional Court (ÚS) ruled March 14 that the government's use of a state of legislative emergency to fast-track budget cuts last year was unconstitutional.

Nonetheless, the changes will stay in effect through the end of this year, giving the tripartite, right-leaning coalition a chance to return to Parliament and pass the measures through the standard legislative process. With a comfortable coalition majority in the Chamber of Deputies, the package is expected to pass, albeit with some bumps in the road from the majority opposition Senate.

Political analyst Bohumil Doležal called the court's decision "inconsistent" and indicative of "an utter lack of will" by political leaders "to agree on anything."

"It was the coalition and the opposition who forced the ÚS to make political decisions," he added. "This is not democracy, but clownery."

While the ÚS officially abolished the budget cuts, it dated the abolishment for Dec. 31, 2011, thus giving the government some eight months to pass the changes again.

In the wake of the Social Democrats (ČSSD) securing a Senate majority in October 2010 elections, the coalition moved quickly to pass its austerity package before the new Senate took its seats Nov. 14.

On Oct. 29, Chamber of Deputies Speaker Miroslava Němcová (Civic Democrats, ODS) declared a legislative emergency at Prime Minister Petr Nečas' request, thus allowing proposals to pass in an accelerated manner. While the ČSSD-led Senate would not have had enough constitutional clout to block the government's cuts, they could have slowed the approval process. The legislative emergency allowed the government to pass in a matter of days a package that normally takes months, with votes on the bills coming on the second to last day of the emergency period.

A state of emergency is normally reserved for times of extreme peril, including war and natural disaster. The cuts targeted unemployment benefits, health insurance and welfare payments among other social programs. At the time, Nečas argued the special powers were needed to avoid significant damage to the country's economy that would result from not promptly making cuts to keep the 2011 budget deficit below 135 billion Kč, thus reassuring international bond markets.

In the wake of the court judgment, Nečas insisted the use of the state of emergency "undoubtedly benefited all citizens."

"We thoroughly explained all our planned steps to the opposition ahead of time and did not bypass the normal ways of Parliament," he said.

The opposition ČSSD has filed three separate cases challenging the government's use of the state of emergency. This judgment contends only with cuts at the Labor and Social Affairs Ministry. Two more cases are pending: One deals with the repeal of the so-called Building Savings Act, which uses state money to encourage private savings for homeownership; another was the decision to end sick-leave payments for the first three days of illness.

The precedent set March 14 is likely to weigh heavy on the two pending cases.  

"The government misused the state of legislative emergency and Nečas should apologize," Interim ČSSD Chairman Bohuslav Sobotka said.

The government says the budget cuts will save some 23.5 billion Kč this year alone.

Labor and Social Affairs Minister Jaromír Drábek (TOP 09) has said he will resubmit the budget package to parliament within days to guarantee its passing again before year's end.

- Filip Šenk contributed to this report.

Benjamin Cunningham can be reached at
bcunningham@praguepost.com