Lety pig farm removal on the back-burner
Lety in south Bohemia is once again in the news - after previously
promising to buy a pig farm on the site of a concentration camp where over
300 Romanies died during the war, Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek said this
week it will be a task for the next government. But why this change of
policy?
For months now, the Czech Social Democratic Prime Minister, Jiri Paroubek,
has spoken in favour of his government spending 800 million crowns to buy
a pig farm in Lety. The reason being that the farm sits on a portion of
land where there was a WWII concentration camp in which 326 Roma died. The
Social Democrats proposed to buy the farm, close it, and construct a
memorial to the Roma victims of the Holocaust in Lety. However, this week
Prime Minister Paroubek announced that the Lety case will not be resolved
prior to the June elections. Jan Bures, a political scientist from Charles
University, comments on the sudden agenda shift:
"I think that the cause is the pre-election campaign. The polling
research shows that the majority of the Czech population doesn't see this
as a rational solution. People think that it's an absurd way of dealing
with the situation of the pig farm. So I have the feeling that Prime
Minister Paroubek thinks that his position until nowwhich supported the
government's purchase of the pig farm, its liquidation, and the building
of a memorialcould actually hurt the Social Democratic Party in its
election campaign."
Early polls show that the Social Democrats will be in a very tight race
with the right-of-centre Civic Democrats in the spring election campaign,
and the long-standing issue of the Lety camp site is too sensitive for
politicians to take a concrete stand. Jan Bures explains when we might
expect the pig farm at Lety to be dealt with:
"There is a basic trend visible here. The solution on the tablethat
means the purchase of the pig farm and its closureis from the viewpoint
of the Czech population quite problematic. This is an issue that every
government will have to battle. Of course it's true that at the beginning
of a term, unpopular measures are much easier to take than at the end,
because then the ruling party is focussed on re-election. So it's much
more realistic to expect that whatever post-June government will be in
power in the Czech Republic, it will have an easier time of implementing
changesthough it will still have to deal with public criticism regarding
the Lety pig farm removal. But during the pre-election campaign, voters
are really tuned-in and they best remember the political decisions of 2 or
3 months prior to the election. They watch the politicians closely."
Although Prime Minister Paroubek has abandoned the purchase and closure of
the Lety pig farm, the government commission continues its official
negotiations. Katerina Jacques is a member of the special commission:
"I can't comment on when there will be a political decision that will
usher in a new phase. The working group commissioned by the government in
December 2005 is working according to the instructions it has. Now we'll
probably have to re-define for ourselves what a solution meanswhether it
really involves removing the pig farm, or whether other options are on the
table."
The pig farm at Lety has also attracted attention from the EU in recent
months, and I asked Jan Bures what external pressure may do to change Jiri
Paroubek's position:
"Czechs are also very sensitive to whatever pressures are exerted on
our politicians from abroad. I think that if Prime Minister Paroubek were
to act according to suggestions from foreign politicians and cave-in to
the existing pro-Roma lobby, he would actually discredit himself even
further in the eyes of the population. Czech public opinion wants this
issue to be resolved by Czech politicians, according to domestic
interests. So long as polls show that a majority of people don't think
it's vital to buy the pig farm and spend 800 million crowns, to close the
farm and build a memorial, then I think we can't expect Czech politicians
to bring this up in the election campaign."
Although Prime Minister Paroubek has distanced himself from spending the
800 million crowns to buy the Lety pig farm, he now proposes that the
money be invested in the education of Roma youth.
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For months now, the Czech Social Democratic Prime Minister, Jiri Paroubek,
has spoken in favour of his government spending 800 million crowns to buy
a pig farm in Lety. The reason being that the farm sits on a portion of
land where there was a WWII concentration camp in which 326 Roma died. The
Social Democrats proposed to buy the farm, close it, and construct a
memorial to the Roma victims of the Holocaust in Lety. However, this week
Prime Minister Paroubek announced that the Lety case will not be resolved
prior to the June elections. Jan Bures, a political scientist from Charles
University, comments on the sudden agenda shift:
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