Czech Government May Stay Neutral on Dispute Over Municipal Influence in National Park Management

According to draft materials, the Czech government may take a neutral stance on a bill put forward by ODS deputies aimed at strengthening the role of municipalities (obce) and regions in the councils of the country's national parks.

Under the proposed amendment, when key documents are approved — such as land-care principles, zoning plans, and the designation of quiet zones — national park councils would be split into two separate voting groups. The first would include representatives of municipalities, regions, firefighters, and possibly the Mountain Rescue Service, while the second would consist of members appointed by the nature conservation authority. A proposal would be considered approved only if it wins an absolute majority within each of the two groups.

The bill's authors, led by deputy Jan Bureš, explain in the accompanying memorandum that the amendment's main goal is to strengthen the position of municipalities and regions within national parks. They argue this would not disrupt park management itself, but would systematically increase pressure to find compromise between conservation authorities and local governments. According to the initiators, the new approval procedure should ensure that key measures in the parks are not adopted at the expense of either the municipalities or conservation goals.

If the council fails to agree on the text of a national park's core documents, the amendment allows for one more attempt to reach consensus. Should that also fail, the decision — under the draft — would be made by the Ministry of the Environment following discussion at a cabinet meeting. It is precisely this provision that drew objections from the Ministry of the Interior, despite the government's broadly neutral position: officials there consider it highly inappropriate and inconsistent with proper governance to turn the cabinet into a body that rules on narrowly technical conservation matters — such as dividing national park territory into protection zones, designating quiet zones, or determining trails and routes.

In addition, the ODS deputies' amendment introduces a two-year window during which members of a national park council may request that the core documents be reconsidered.

Around Prague, based on reporting by ekolist.cz