Chamber of Deputies backs freeze on politicians' salaries — but too late to take effect on time

The Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Parliament has approved a coalition proposal to freeze the salaries of politicians — including the president, deputies, senators and members of the government. However, the bill still has to go through the standard legislative process, meaning it is unlikely to take effect before the end of this year, as its authors had originally hoped.

If the law does not come into force in January, salaries will automatically rise by five percent under the indexation rules already in place.

Savings of up to CZK 24 million

The proposal was championed in parliament by the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Tomio Okamura (SPD). “The pay of politicians cannot be detached from the economic reality faced by ordinary citizens,” he said while presenting the bill. According to him, freezing the salaries could save the state budget up to CZK 24 million a year.

Opposition sees it as an election-season gesture

Opposition parties did not object to the substance of the proposal itself — they only insisted on the right to submit amendments. What they did criticize was the accelerated procedure used to push the bill through, calling it a populist move ahead of October's Senate and local government elections.

“Here we are, going through one populist item after another. I wonder what's behind that — the elections must be getting close,” TOP 09 faction leader Jan Jakob remarked ironically at the start of the debate.

STAN party leader Vít Rakušan, for his part, criticized the very decision to convene an extraordinary session of parliament. In his view, such sessions should be reserved primarily for security matters — for example, discussions of hybrid threats from Russia.

What politicians would earn without the freeze

If the freeze is not introduced, salaries for the president, deputies and government members will rise by five percent starting in January. In that case, the president would earn more than CZK 400,000 a month, the speakers of parliament's two chambers and the prime minister would earn over CZK 320,000, and rank-and-file deputies would receive more than CZK 120,000.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz