TOP 09 backs Kalousek

The leadership of TOP 09 has strongly backed Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek after a news report suggested he could bear some responsibility for the suspected massive cost overruns related to the Czech EU presidency in 2009.

A news report broadcast on Czech Television's Reportéři program July 4 said Kalousek had signed a 370 million Kč ($21.8 million) budget extension for the EU presidency requested by then Deputy Prime Minister for EU Affairs Alexandr Vondra (Civic Democratic Party, ODS). That money - now subject to a pair of investigations - was awarded to ProMoPro for audiovisual equipment and promotional services during the six-month rotating presidency overseen by Vondra and the Government Office.

The TV report was based on the results of an internal audit completed by the Finance Ministry's Financial Analytical Department (FAÚ) in January - which has not been made public - that the station obtained a copy of through a Freedom of Information request. Some observers have accused Kalousek of using the investigative arm of the FAÚ to score political points, as well as trying to weaken Vondra and the ODS with the ministry's selective release of information related to the ProMoPro case.

Just days after the report, the Anti-Monopoly Office announced it had launched its own inquiry into the order, already the subject of an ongoing police investigation. Kalousek himself is on record as saying he believed millions in public funds had been wasted in awarding the no-bid contract, stating in February that the fee ultimately paid to ProMoPro - some 551 million Kč, according to the Government Office - was an "outrageously and nonsensically high sum."

TOP 09 spokesman Jiří Vaněk told The Prague Post his party believed Kalousek had done nothing wrong and that "all the party's leaders support him 100 percent."

Vaněk said no finance minister was ever responsible for the activities of other ministries, adding only Vondra and the Government Office could bear responsibility for the controversial contract.

"The finance minister didn't take part in the organization of the Czech presidency," Vaněk said. "According to the law, he just guaranteed that the increase of funds was in the government budget reserve ... and the government, on Vondra's request, agreed to the increase."

Vaněk added that ProMoPro's contract had not even been mentioned by Vondra when seeking the extra funds, and that the minister had simply "asked for a budget increase because of the number of events taking place."

Vaněk further suggested he believed the TV report had distorted the facts by "intentionally withholding information and intentionally changing a number of facts," claiming statements by Kalousek and his spokesman Ondřej Jakob, as well as Prime Minister Petr Nečas, had all been edited out of the report.

At the same time, the TOP 09 spokesman made no attempt to deny something had gone wrong in the affair, stating that "as a political party we will not, we cannot and we do not want to defend this case before the public."

Vaněk said the controversy was "exclusively the problem and responsibility of ODS, Vondra and Nečas," further stating that "only Nečas himself can make personnel changes in the government," in a thinly-veiled call for Vondra's departure.

Political analysts who spoke with The Prague Post questioned the motivation of seeking to redirect pressure away from Vondra onto the finance minister, arguing Kalousek should not bear any responsibility for the affair.

However, they differed over whether Vondra, now defense minister, could lose his job because of the controversy.

Milan Znoj, a political scientist at Charles University, laid the blame squarely on Vondra, adding he believed that "not just Vondra is under threat now, but also Nečas because he has shown he will not let go of Vondra."

He predicted the ProMoPro controversy to be "a burden that will stay with the government for some time," adding it had already seen the "erosion of a right-wing coalition that wanted to be strong and decisive with its significant parliamentary majority."

Znoj said another factor in the dispute was a political battle between ODS and TOP 09 for the role as the country's main right-wing party, something he said was "a competition that will keep Czech politics busy for a long time."

However, Michal Pink, a political scientist at Masaryk University, said that because the controversy-dogged defense minister "has been able to hold out to this date, it is really possible he will last the full term to 2014."

Pink said Vondra's position was made safe by the fact the public had already become desensitized to the ProMoPro affair as it was "already quite an old, repetitive case," unless as-yet unknown information were to come to light and reignite the controversy.

- Filip Šenk contributed to this report.

Bill Lehane can be reached at
blehane@praguepost.com