Czech TV and radio fee abolition passes first reading in Prague

Members of the Czech Chamber of Deputies voted early in the morning, in the first reading, for the coalition bill abolishing fees for Czech Television and Czech Radio. The vote took place at 4:36 a.m. on 24 October after hours of heated debate, during which the opposition tried to stall proceedings with obstruction. Things even reached the point of desk-banging and shouting over alleged breaches of the rules of procedure.

This is only the first reading, so the bill will still be debated in parliament: it is now heading to the Chamber's committees. Opposition leaders promised a difficult fight in the coming readings immediately after the vote.

Harsh words after the vote

ODS chairman Martin Kupka assured the coalition that the second and third readings, as well as a possible return of the bill from the Senate and a presidential veto, would be "among the toughest sessions", and called what was happening "an outright disgrace". STAN leader Vít Rakušan said the coalition had pushed the bill through "under cover of darkness" and had shown "arrogance and fear of the people", adding: "The end of Andrej Babiš's government began on 24 October at 4:36 a.m.".

How the night unfolded

Even in the final minutes the opposition tried to complicate passage. It failed to reject the bill, as well as to send it back to the ANO, SPD and Motorists cabinet for rework: each proposal was backed by 81 of the 177 deputies present, only from the ranks of ODS, STAN, the Pirates, KDU-ČSL and TOP 09. KDU-ČSL deputy Petr Hladík proposed extending the period between the first and the next reading, and several opposition members demanded that the bill also be reviewed by other committees — for science, education and sport, for public administration and regional development, and the budget committee.

The time of the vote — 4:36 a.m. on Saturday — was approved by the coalition on Friday on the proposal of Chamber speaker Tomio Okamura (SPD). The debate then lasted nine hours. During the night, deputy speaker Jiří Barták ordered people removed from the public gallery, saying they had behaved inappropriately. The opposition criticizes the police's actions, while coalition deputies cited security reasons.

Protest outside the Chamber

People who had gathered to protest against the plan to move the funding of Czech TV and radio into the state budget also waited for the vote on Malostranské náměstí. They had been gathering since Friday afternoon: when the assembly began at one o'clock there were only a few dozen people in the square, and by evening there were hundreds.

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Around Prague, based on reporting by seznamzpravy.cz