The head of the antimonopoly office is under pressure due to the NK building

Prague - The head of the antimonopoly office, Martin Pecina, is under pressure, according to Hospodářské noviny (HN), to prevent the construction of the National Library building in Prague's Letná district, but Pecina does not want to do so. "Everyone would like me to prohibit it. And I'm not really inclined to do that," he told HN. He also stated that while everyone is waiting for his decision, he is not conducting any proceedings. "So we can wait until Christmas," he added.
    Deputy Chairwoman of the office, Jindřiška Koblihová, told ČTK at the end of March that the office is likely to decide on the competition for the design of the new building of the Prague National Library this month. The office continues to investigate the documentation for the competition and is also collaborating with the European Commission. It is a complicated matter, and the office is also obtaining expert opinions from the field of international law, she reported. The National Library team is also awaiting the response from the Office for Competition Protection, which will decide whether the controversial building in Prague's Letná will be constructed.
    Today's HN reminds that Pecina already stated two months ago that the decision is not up to him and that there is nothing preventing the recognition of the winning project by Jan Kaplický. However, this has met with resistance from state officials, HN writes. "The deputy minister of culture (František Mikeš) informed me that he believes we did not decide correctly," Pecina said. However, according to HN, Mikeš defends himself by saying that he did not use such strong words: "I did not put any pressure on Pecina. I just wrote him a letter asking if we can spend public money on something that did not emerge from a standard public competition."