Return of church property mulled

After more than two decades, the state is considering giving churches a 134 billion Kč compensation deal for property taken by the communist regime, making the Czech Republic the last country in the region to provide full restitution of church assets.

The Culture Ministry announced a plan at the end of May to return around 59 percent of church property, worth 75 billion Kč, and give the remaining 59 billion Kč in cash over the next 15 to 30 years.

That amount would change correspondingly if the Defense Ministry is able to give about 2 billion Kč worth of former church land that makes up some of the redundant training areas, a move that would fall in line with the ministry's plan to cut down on unnecessary property and spending.

The property and money will be awarded to the country's 16 Christian denominations and the Federation of Jewish Communities of the Czech Republic, though the Roman Catholic Church would be the largest recipient with 85 percent of the settlement.

"Changing the parameters of the settlement has been done correctly and is the economically correct procedure. From this perspective, the proposal is fair," said Karel Štícha, chief financial officer for the Prague Archbishopric.

However, the compensation has been long in coming, he said, and "it is clear the long period during which the state used the seized property, it lost significant value for the church."  

During that time, the church has received some support in the form of subsidies for church operations, namely clergy salaries, provided by the state under a 1949 law. However, according to an analysis of the value of those subsidies compared to the potential profits the church could have made from the property, "the return on capital is higher than the subsidies," a difference of "tens of billions of crowns," Štícha said.

"It should be noted that any restitution is only a partial redress of grievances, and therefore it is evident these losses will most likely not be settled," he said.

The restitution process in the Czech Republic lags behind the rest of the region. In Poland, full restitution passed in 1989, in Hungary in 1991 and 1998, and Slovakia in 1993. Even Russia has already passed a major restitution package, doing so in 2010.

"In this context, the Czech Republic deviates to the extreme," said Václav Valeš, a law professor at the University of West Bohemia in Plzeň.

The Czech Republic did return around 170 buildings to the church in 1991, he said, but not property like land, ponds or additional buildings "the income from which can fund their operations and other activities like special services, worship and social and educational services."

It remains to be seen if the current restitution proposal will see the light of day, and already the Public Affairs (VV) party and the opposition Social Democrats (ČSSD) have expressed opposition to the draft plan.

Over the years, there have been cases where members of the church have tried to go to court to regain their property, based on a 1991 law that promised restitution of church property, Valeš said, but those cases rarely succeeded, the most high-profile of those being the 17-year battle over St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague.

The cathedral at Prague Castle, which was seized in 1954, has been state property and its clergy state employees ever since. When the church tried to get St. Vitus back in 1992, a series of court battles dragged on until 2010, when it was ruled St. Vitus would remain fully owned by the state but managed by the church.

An overarching restitution plan for all church property still in state hands was not drawn-up until 2008, under Mirek Topolánek's government. That draft, which was used as the basis for the most recent proposal, stalled, and Topolánek's government collapsed.

"The vast majority of property is still held, which is probably due to the reduced number of believers here than in neighboring countries and the unwarranted fear of the political representation and influence of churches in society," Valeš said.

Property that was seized as early as 1948 has remained property of the state ever since. After more than 60 years, buildings, homes and farms have been built on much of that land. Even if the current restitution draft is passed, there will be plenty of details to iron out.

"Restitutions will in this case apply to the land, not buildings. The owner of the property and owner of the building will be two different subjects of law, and they will have to adjust mutual rights and obligations in contracts," Valeš said.

"If that doesn't work, all there will be left to do is go to court."

- Klára Jiřičná contributed to this report.

Cat Contiguglia can be reached at
ccontiguglia@praguepost.com