A plan to return church property seized by the communist regime is on shaky ground with politicians who say the financial crisis must be considered, but supporters say that economics should play no role in the case.The restitution offer, developed by the Catholic Church and the Culture Ministry, would pay 83 billion Kč ($4.6 billion) to Czech churches over the next 60 years.
According to the church, the total value of its lands seized by the communists in 1948 is 134 billion Kč.
The church, which agreed to the proposal this spring, would receive two-thirds of this sum in money and one-third in property.
But some members of Parliament call the package excessive and are looking to renegotiate the terms in advance of an expected December decision.
“In the beginning, I didn’t believe that [the church’s requested sum] had a realistic basis, and, today, I can say that I was right,” said Vlastimil Tlustý of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS).
“It was probably only a dream.”
Tlustý has proposed a sum of 20 billion Kč, less than one-fourth of the church’s request, to be paid immediately rather than over a long period of time. Though his plan doesn’t make up for the smaller sum with greater land returns, Tlustý says he prefers property over monetary restitution, simply as a way to save money.
“If we give back property, we don’t have to pay a lot of money,” Tlustý said.
The Culture Ministry and representatives of the Czech Catholic Church insist that the proposed sum is based on accurate calculations, and any reduction in payments would shortchange the churches of what they deserve.
“If you don’t know how the sum is composed, it can seem high. But it was calculated from all the property taken from the church in 1948,” said Jiři Gračka of the Czech Bishop’s Conference.
Critics of the plan claim the sum is absurdly high in light of the financial crisis, but the Culture Ministry says the economy should have no bearing on the proposal, which was designed well in advance of the market volatility. Any change in the restitution proposal would require redesigning the entire project.
“The financial crisis has not brought any new situation. To just lower the sum without adaptation of other important parameters would mean a new injustice to the churches,” said Jakub Kříž of the Culture Ministry.
“The proposal is complex, with many parameters, and you can not change just one of them,” he added.
The Culture Ministry says that it would consider a compromise but only within the frame of their current proposal.
“To bring up a new solution means to start dealing with the churches again,” said Kříž.
A temporary committee of the House in collaboration with the Culture Ministry is currently considering the restitution plan, and the committee has until the end of December to decide.
Both the Culture Ministry and the Catholic Church are hopeful that the bill will be approved as originally proposed.
“We hope the MPs will finish their work with the conclusion that the bill was prepared carefully and that it is a just way to compensate for damages caused to churches by the totalitarian communist regime,” said Kříž.
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(Source: TPP)