18:25 – Lawmakers are beginning to vote. It must decide on 25 amendments and 10 accompanying resolutions.
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18:16 – MEPs voted to discuss the budget after 7 p.m.
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17:50 – Věra Kovářová (STAN) headed for the lectern. She criticizes the head of the state coffers, for example, for failing to provide deputies with information about the planned investments she promised. “I do not consider it correct if we hear that we should be on the same ship,” said Kovářová.
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“As far as the deficit is concerned, it is premature and unjustified. It was enough to submit an amount of 400 billion crowns and then wait for the data that will be known in July and August and then maintain accordingly and possibly come up with another proposal in September, “she added, adding that this is an exceptional deficit and should be so approach it during the discussion.
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17:10 – Pirate MP Olga Richterová demands that the government prepare the “necessary testing infrastructure” for the possible second coronavirus wave in the context of the state budget deficit. According to her, pirates want the daily test capacity to be thirty thousand samples, as is the case in Denmark, for example.
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16:50 – Even according to STAN chairman Vít Austrian, the government has not managed the crisis from an economic point of view. “We survived the crisis thanks to creative people who were able to sew veils and the like,” the MP said.
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We are debating a record budget deficit. Unfortunately, in those good, rich, pre-coronation times, the government had deficit budgets. She did not prepare any large investments. She did not prepare for the crisis. It did not introduce any savings system. He has no prediction if, unfortunately, the second wave of the pandemic has come
– Vít Rakušan (@Vit_Rakusan) July 8, 2020
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He agreed with Babiš that the Czech Republic had not yet experienced such a crisis. “It simply came to our notice then. The Czech Republic should have been prepared for the economy to get into worse times. But our government under the leadership of YES did not prepare for that, “added the Austrian.
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16:15 – The budget will not support the SPD either. “If unnecessary expenses were to be cut, we would not have to sit here and owe the Czech Republic another two hundred billion crowns,” party chairman Tomio Okamura said in plenary.
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16:00 – “The government wants to owe an average family of four two hundred thousand crowns. This is the money that will have to be repaid, including interest. And the government does not even have a plan to revive the economy, “ODS chief Petr Fiala added with criticism.
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The party therefore prepared its own multi-point solution, which it named the “Lifebuoy for the Economy”. It proposes, for example, the remission of income tax for the self-employed, the remission of road tax or discounts on health and social insurance.
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15:53 – Pirates agree that the path of a one-off deficit is the right one. “It simply came to our notice then. We agree that there is a need to help as many people and companies as possible. However, we consider it unreasonable that the government is not looking for savings. We therefore propose to reduce the deficit by 11, 16 or 25 billion crowns, “said Pirate Mikuláš Ferjenčík at the plenary.
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15:37 – Minister of Finance Alena Schillerová (ANO) spoke out against Kalousek’s words. “I had all the amendments counted, and it’s worth 723 billion, and some were yours. I often come across the fact that the opposition is sending our proposals upwards fiscally, “said Schiller.
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“I will not let the budget fall freely, so there is a reserve, which is now around 34 billion crowns,” she responded, among other things, to his accusation that he did not intend to save.
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The Chamber’s negotiations on a record budget deficit
Photo: Petr Horník, Právo
15:17 – Miroslav Kalousek, the head of the TOP 09 deputies, criticized the first deficit. “There are a number of items in the tens of billions of crowns, where we have no idea what they will be spent on. And what’s worse? The government has no idea, “said Kalousek. He also entered the office of Prime Minister Babiš (YES) because he was not looking for savings.
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15:05 – Babiš concluded by saying that he believes that a further increase in the deficit will no longer be needed this year. “Despite all the problems that our economy has, I look to the future with confidence that we will be able to overcome them and find a way out of this crisis. We will do everything to ensure that it is for the benefit of our citizens, “he concluded.
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15:00 – “We are a creative nation. We will emerge from the crisis as one of the best in Europe, “believes the Prime Minister.
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14:45 – The deficit was also defended by Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (YES). “This proposal has given rise to a number of discussions and objections. But I would like us to judge the government’s actions with at least a small degree of understanding. Who would have thought that we would have to stop the whole economy? None of us was prepared for such an exam, “the prime minister told the deputies.
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14:35 – Alena Schillerová (for YES) was the first Minister of Finance to speak in plenary. She reiterated that the current situation is extraordinary.
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14:32 – Negotiations on the budget were preceded by the announcement of the results of the elections to the Czech Radio Council and the Czech Press Office Council. The deputies also elected the chairman of the commission of the Chamber of Deputies to evaluate the effectiveness of government assistance within COVID. This was Zbyněk Stanjura (ODS).
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14:30 – After the lunch break, the sitting in the Chamber continues from 2.30 pm
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The opposition criticized the proposed deficit of up to 500 billion as insufficiently justified and proposed changes in the budget for more than 165 billion.
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However, the Committee on Budgets only supported the proposal of Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO), which reduces the government budget reserve by 100 billion crowns, and the proposals of communists who want transfers for a total of 2.3 billion crowns, mainly for remuneration for people working in health and social services.
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Originally, this year’s budget deficit was supposed to be 40 billion crowns, due to the coronavirus crisis, the government decided to increase it, first to 200, then to 300 and now to 500 billion crowns.
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Minister of Finance Alena Schillerová (for YES) defends this, saying that in connection with the crisis, state revenues are falling and expenditures are rising.
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