Jiří Paroubek Chairman of the Czech Social Demo 12 Leaders Magazine II 2009 A LUXURY WE SIMPLY CAN’T AFFORD Jiří Paroubek Chairman of the Czech Social Democratic Party Photos Archive LM

Leaders Magazine II 2009 13 erienced it seven years o Bush’s warmongering otic What followed was m respectable society omething similar taking s not a question of war uality of life e cabinet’s crisis packel that took advantage e Minister Topolánek is asures under the slogan cult times Any kind of in advance as almost he nation f the Social Democrats binet’s proposal There hat could help solve the ement with the cabinet situation we might as he fact that many things ed from the ČSSD crisis together at a time when med that the crisis would ee on the acceleration pport of business loans d investment in infraupport the acceleration ssions an amendment d subsidising the insula The ČSSD has pushing list for a long time but it took the current crisis for the government to support this investment in energy savings So in a way we can be satisfied however there is one big but With all that in mind we will never agree with the cabinet’s proposal to lower social security payments That might lead to the disruption of the pension system and its subsequent privatisation We would not agree to this even under ordinary circumstances but we deem it scandalous to push this step through at a time when we are facing several years of crisis We have repeatedly expressed our conviction that all the financial markets products and their participants have to be subject to suitable supervision or regulation without any exception and without any regard to the country they operate in Reuters quoted from the declaration endorsed in Berlin last Sunday Who signed it The highest representatives of Germany the United Kingdom France and other countries Mirek Topolánek also attended the meeting It seems however that he failed to understand what exactly he agreed to in Berlin in a preparation for the G20 summit Tough times like these test our character and values as a nation British Prime Minister Gordon Brown wrote in The Guardian So even in a recession we have to act now both to protect people from the downturn and to prepare and equip ourselves for every future challenge Our future lies in low carbon high technology manufacturing and services Hence our investment in science green jobs skills and the digital backbone on which the rest of the economy depends he said Topolánek’s cabinet has nothing of the kind in its plan but it has still not given up the idea of pushing its neo liberal recipe through the lower house in one package Thus it would refuse the constructive suggestions of the opposition since it is not used to engaging in debate It would also show who’s the one unwilling to cooperate in difficult times Such contempt for opposition ready to offer a helping hand is a luxury that we cannot afford in times of a crisis By Jiří Paroubek Chairman of the Czech Social Democratic Party Translated with the permission of the Prague Daily Monitor českou verzi naleznete na www leadersmagazine cz Jiří Paroubek Chairman of ČSSD with his wife From left Otto Jelínek with his sister both World Champions in Figure Skating in the sixties and Jiří Paroubek Chairman of ČSSD Democratic Party with his wife The United States exp ago Anyone opposed to was labelled as unpatrio almost an expulsion from Today we are seeing so place in our country It is of course but rather of qu I am talking about the age Like Bush’s mode of people’s fears Prime pushing through his mea of national unity in diffic discussion is described a sabotage threatening th This is not a matter of disagreeing with the cab are not so many steps th crisis as not to find agree Due to the gravity of the well generously overlook t have obviously been copie programme that was put t the cabinet blatantly claim not affect us We will definitely agre of tax write offs the sup through guarantees and structure We can also su of VAT returns tax remis of the bankruptcy law and tion of prefab houses T for the last item on the l

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