Bursík was outraged by the failure of the government amendment on EIA

Prague - The Chamber of Deputies today rejected the government’s amendment to the Environmental Impact Assessment Act, known as EIA, in its final reading. It modified the conditions under which civic associations could legally challenge certain official decisions. The Minister of the Environment and leader of the Greens, Martin Bursík, described it as an unprecedented decision and even threatened to leave the coalition. He was particularly outraged that some coalition deputies also voted for the rejection.
    "This is very serious. I state that under the current situation I am unable to present legislative proposals from the Ministry of the Environment because they do not pass and do not receive the votes of coalition deputies," Bursík declared in front of journalists.
    The amendment stipulated that certain civic associations or municipalities should have the right to seek the annulment of official decisions in court if they were not satisfied with the results of the environmental impact assessment for planned constructions. Bursík emphasized that the amendment aligned Czech law with European directives, and if the Czech Republic did not adopt it, it risked litigation from the European Commission.
    In the Chamber, the prevailing opinion was that the amendment would complicate construction processes and prolong them, explained the report on the amendment by Vladimír Dlouhý (ODS).
    The proposal for rejection, brought forth by the Economic Committee of the Chamber, was supported by not only the Communist and Social Democratic deputies but also by ODS deputies Vlastimil Tlustý, Jan Klas, and Jiří Janeček, as well as KDU-ČSL deputy Milan Šimonovský.
    Bursík stated that it now depends on Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek (ODS) and leader of the coalition's Christian Democrats Jiří Čunek how they will approach the matter. "If the chairmen do not come up with a solution to this situation, I will have no choice but to state that I simply cannot continue to function in this coalition and bear responsibility for the Ministry of the Environment," he noted. He pointed out that all six Green deputies voted against the rejection.
    "It is grounds for leaving the governing coalition if the chairman of the ODS and the chairman of the KDU-ČSL do not come with some solution that could heal this disaster caused by their deputies," he added.
    KDU-ČSL chairman Jiří Čunek acknowledged that the leaders of the coalition parties would discuss this topic, and later the nine coalition leaders would meet as well. According to him, it is the presenter’s responsibility to negotiate support for their norm. The coalition has not discussed the EIA, he stated. "It may be a surprise for Mr. Bursík that it did not pass. It is not a big surprise for me," Čunek added.
    Today's vote was not the first instance where a government proposal failed due to a lack of votes from coalition deputies. For example, in October 2007, the Chamber rejected a government proposal for an amendment on budgetary determination of taxes in the very first reading, which included transferring money for salaries of employees in regional schools from the Ministry of Education directly to the budgets of individual regions. In addition to the opposition, two deputies from the Green Party, Věra Jakubková and Olga Zubová, voted against the government proposal.
    In October 2008, the Chamber rejected a government proposal aimed at increasing the costs of registering rights in the Land Register. In the final reading, it was missing two votes—against it were the Social Democrats, and they were joined by the Christian Democrat Ludvík Hovorka with his opposing stance.
    Civic ecological associations express their objections to a number of constructions. Due to objections from ecological associations, as well as concerned municipalities, the construction of approximately a twenty-kilometer bypass around Plzeň was delayed for several years, along with the completion of the D5 motorway from Prague through Plzeň.
    Lawsuits from ecologists also complicate the completion of the D8 motorway in northern Bohemia through the České středohoří. Ecologists are raising various objections to the construction, some relate solely to the procedure for approving the construction, while others are based on nature protection.