The government agrees with the plan to sell the Lobkovický Palace to Germany

Prague - The government today agreed on the intention of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to carry out a real estate transaction, in which Germany would acquire the Lobkovický Palace in Prague, where its embassy is currently located on lease, and the Czech Republic would receive land in the center of Berlin for a new building for the Czech diplomatic mission. This was stated to journalists by Prime Minister Petr Nečas (ODS). The operation could potentially bring the Czech Republic an estimated profit of up to a quarter of a billion crowns.
      During a press conference, the Prime Minister emphasized that the government approved the intention today, but did not make a final decision. According to him, the plan will be reconsidered after the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, for example, conducts an estimate of the market value of all the properties involved in the transaction.
The current building of the Czech embassy in Berlin is considered inadequate both in size and operating costs, while German partners have long wanted to acquire the rented Malostranský Palace for ownership. "The current embassy is a dreadful building, and its operating costs are truly unsustainable," Nečas stated. He also mentioned that the Prague palace has "strong symbolic significance" for Germany.
      According to the material approved by the government today, the Czech Republic would sell not only the Lobkovický Palace but also unnecessary properties of the former Czechoslovak embassy in Bonn, an unnecessary residential complex in Berlin, and in the future also the buildings of the current Czech embassy and residence in Berlin.
      The total value of these properties is estimated at more than 650 million crowns. Conversely, the purchase of land and construction of a new residence for the Czech embassy is estimated to cost the Czech state about 400 million crowns. The transfer of ownership of all properties and financial settlements are to take place simultaneously.
      Germany values the Lobkovický Palace, as from its balcony, in the autumn of 1989, it was announced to refugees from East Germany that they had the opportunity to go to the West. The offer to leave for the then Federal Republic of Germany was announced from the balcony to about 4000 East Germans by the former West German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher in September 1989.
      The property in Malá Strana would not lose its status as a cultural monument upon sale, and the new owner would be obliged to fully respect this fact. Germany would also have to commit to using the building exclusively as the residence of the diplomatic mission.
      However, Jiří Lobkowicz from the Mělník branch of the Lobkowicz family disagrees with the possible sale of the palace to Germany or with the exchange of the building. Today, Jana Bobošíková and her small party Sovereignty also protested against the sale in a press release.
      The Czech side uses a building in a lucrative location in the center of Berlin as its representative office, which does not meet current needs in terms of size and technical condition, the material mentions. Operating costs are ten million per year, which is uneconomical, it adds. The German side has therefore offered land in the diplomatic quarter of Berlin on Tiergartenstrasse.