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November 22nd, 2008
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September 10th, 2008 | Current Issue

The eastern challenge
Global experts discuss Europe's role in Asia security at Prague meeting

Deputy resigns over blackmail
Scandal threatens to reduce electability of Civic Democratic Party

Baťa global shoe tycoon dies at 93
Co-workers, family remember Tomáš J. Baťa's business savvy

Population trends pressure EU governments
States mull social reforms ahead of aging demographic

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BRIEFS


ONDŘEJ BOUDA/The Prague Post
Before his re-election, incumbent Martin Bursík started new chapters of loyal Greens, boosting party membership more than 300 percent.
The marathon congress leading up to the Sept. 7 re-election of Martin Bursík as chairman of the Green Party unveiled major fissures within the once-promising faction.
Far from being “a fresh wind in politics,” as its members like to present themselves, the Greens have very quickly degenerated into a typical Czech political party, with plenty of inside plots and power struggles.
By forcing out his opponents through unorthodox practices, Bursík may have exchanged his 15 minutes of fame for the prospect of establishing a viable alternate party, which now appears to have lost its potential of becoming a real political force. The latest poll, conducted after the conference, showed that only 4 percent of voters support the Green Party, which falls short of the 5 percent limit needed for parliamentary representation.
“It’s a typical cycle that we have seen many times in the past,” said political analyst Bohumil Doležal. “People are looking for a change in politics and find an unsuspecting party that is quickly corrupted by power and falls into disfavor.”
The conference was a success for Bursík, who strengthened his position and managed to send opposition into virtual illegality by denying them any important positions.
“I hope that all members will respect the will of the conference and realize that, in a democracy, you win some and you lose some,” Bursík said of his victory. “These results give me a strong mandate to follow the path that we have started upon after the election.”
Threatened by the growing strength of an opposing faction led by the party’s Vice Chairwoman and ousted Education Minister Dana Kuchtová, Bursík called for the conference prematurely.
Unhappy with the direction the party was taking under Bursík’s leadership, Kuchtová criticized him for his stance on key issues, including the planned U.S. radar base, which Bursík supports against the wishes of a vast majority of his party. Upon her replacement by current Education Minister Ondřej Liška as the party vice chairman, Kuchtová and her disciples now claim that the conference was far from democratic.
Before calling for the conference, Bursík established a slew of new party chapters loyal to him in an effort to garner votes. In June, weeks before the conference was summoned, the party’s membership increased more than 300 percent.
“It is clear that the new members were accepted with the goal of boosting Bursík’s chances,” said Anna Voňavková, one of his opponents. She added that Bursík prepared the conference in secret, and announced it only after he was confident of victory.
Bursík refused the allegations. “Many of the accused defended themselves here personally today and showed that they are willing to fight for the good of the party,” he said. “I hope that these allegations will cease soon and the party be allowed to move forward. I am very glad that the party is still attractive to new people. Hopefully, more will join in the future.”
Kuchtová, stripped of her former clout, also had misgivings about the correctness of the conference. “It is clear that many new organizations were taken on especially for this conference,” she said. “On the other hand, many of my supporters from south Bohemia and Ostrava were not allowed to take part. The imbalance this created led to Bursík’s victory.”
The conference itself seemed carefully rehearsed, as if a vast majority of delegates was reading off a script carefully prepared beforehand.
A few attempts at opposition against Bursík surfaced, but most of them were stymied in their early stages. On numerous occasions, Bursík’s henchmen changed the voting procedure, altered the number of delegates needed for a majority vote and even “accidentally” discarded results of a vote.
Mean greens
At times, the heated verbal exchanges that characterized the congress took a physical turn. When arriving at the conference Friday, Kuchtová was targeted by egg-throwing protesters, who failed to hit her.
“I am used to similar activities from the time that I spent serving as education minister, but it is quite surprising to see them here, where we should work together and stand united,” she later commented.
While the Kuchtová-led rebels unquestionably lost the battle, they at least managed to block a debate on regulatory changes that would have given Bursík even more power. However, Bursík quickly reacted by removing several opponents from key party posts, replacing them by more loyal subordinates.
Driven to despair, the rebel delegates called him undemocratic, compared him to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and warned against completely ignoring the opposition. One belligerent delegate, Jan Šlechta, compared the current leadership to Bolshevik rule.
“I want to guarantee that our experts will meet in illegality as they used to once upon a time,” he said. “Even though the party chairman and his politburo will be against it, we will fight on for the good of the party. Unless regular party members are allowed to join in running the party, we can all go to hell.”
Aside from the colorful dialogue, experts were also shocked by the clear-cut victory that Bursík managed to secure. “Before the conference, it was a race too close to call. Suddenly, Bursík won two-thirds of the vote,” Doležal said.
He pointed out that the conference was a mistake from the start. “If Kuchtová had won, it would have most likely meant a collapse of government and premature elections. If Bursík had won, but Kuchtová remained vice chairwoman, then it would have been a waste of time and money. This result gives Bursík control over the party for the next two years, but will strengthen his opposition in the long run.”  
Although he managed to maintain power, Bursík still faces a plethora of problems. “The six Green MPs are divided. Two of them might leave his club because of the results of this conference, as they support Kuchtová,” Doležal said. “They were willing to vote with the government in the past for the good of the party, but they no longer have any such restraints, and instead will look for revenge.”
Doležal also warned that Bursík’s future might be bleak.
“It’s hard to imagine the Green Party falling apart as it used to, but opposition will grow, and every wrong decision will be followed by an ever louder ‘I told you so,’ ” he said. “By the next party conference, the tables could very well have turned.”

RUSSIA Russia has conditionally agreed to remove its forces from Georgian land — excluding Abkhazia and South Ossetia — by the second week of October, the BBC reported Sept 8. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said the pull-out would happen as soon as the EU deploys 200 monitors to South Ossetia. He asked French President Nicolas Sarkozy for guarantees that Georgia would not use force again.

SPAIN Four demonstrators were arrested and a Civil Guard officer was injured Sept. 7 in a Madrid riot triggered by the killing of a Senegalese man in an apparent drug dispute, the Associated Press reported. The violence broke out after the stabbing death of a 28-year-old man from Senegal that led African immigrants to set fire to houses and cars. Police are looking for a man identified as a suspect in the killing.
SERBIA Tomislav Nikolić, the head of the main opposition party in Serbia, resigned Sept. 8 after senior colleagues refused to back the country’s efforts to join the EU, the BBC reported. Nikolic had recently persuaded his Serbian Radical Party to approve the ratification of an important agreement with the EU, but caused a revolt over the issue, which critics said meant abandoning Serbia’s claim to Kosovo.
UK A court found three British Muslim men guilty Sept. 8 of planning murder as part of a terrorist plot involving homemade liquid bombs, Reuters reported. After a five-month trial, Abdulla Ahmed Ali, Assad Sarwar and Tanvir Hussain were found guilty of planning to kill “persons unknown,” but the court failed to indict them on charges linked to the planning of attacks on transatlantic airlines.
GERMANY The German Defense Ministry paid $20,000 in compensation to families of three Afghan civilians killed last month by German troops at a checkpoint in the north of the country, magazine Der Spiegel reported Sept. 8. The ministry also said that one soldier is being investigated for the incident, during which soldiers shot at a car that refused to stop.
FRANCE A judge has ordered seven members of the Church of Scientology to stand trial on fraud charges, Reuters reported Sept. 8. The suit centers on a complaint by a woman who said she said she paid 140,000 francs in 1998 for “purification packs,” which she said were a fraud.  If found guilty, the church could be forced to stop its activity in the country.

VERDICT An Indian court found two Czech entomologists guilty of unauthorized insect collecting Sept. 9, the Czech News Agency (ČTK) reported. Czech Academy of Sciences researcher Petr Švácha and forester Emil Kučera face up to seven years in prison. The court has reportedly called on them to lodge a request for pardon during the proceedings. If the request is approved, the court will not sentence them, and they will be able to return to the Czech Republic.

AGREEMENT The Czech Republic and the United States reached an agreement on the final text of the SOFA treaty Sept. 5, defining the conditions for U.S. troops in the country in connection with the stationing of a U.S. radar base on Czech soil, ČTK reported. The government is to deal with the treaty within two weeks. Defense Ministry officials said the final text was prepared, with only details to be completed.  
SECURITY The Town Hall of Rokycany, west Bohemia, plans to install more camera-monitoring devices in reaction to tension between Roma and rightist extremists in the town, mayor Jan Baloun told ČTK after a meeting with police officials Sept. 8. Local Roma citizens have complained that they have been exposed to threats and attacks for a long time. The town previously decided to reinforce state and municipal police patrols in the streets.
BIRTHS One third of all children in 2007 were born out of wedlock, Radio Prague reported Sept. 8, citing a recent Czech Statistical Office poll. Out of more than 114,000 children born in 2007, 34.5 percent were born to unmarried women, representing a 1 percent increase over the previous year. The percentage of extramarital newborns has been on the rise since the early 1990s.

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