Motoristé and SPD want the koruna written into Czech constitution
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The Czech parties Motoristé and SPD have proposed writing into the constitution a provision that the Czech koruna is the country's official currency. The sponsors hope to find support among both coalition and opposition lawmakers who oppose switching to the euro.
The draft amendment is signed by the minister of sport and prevention Boris Šťastný, the foreign minister Petr Macinka and MP Filip Turek — all three from Motoristé — as well as the SPD chairman and Chamber of Deputies speaker Tomio Okamura. There are no signatories from the coalition's third partner, the ANO party.
Under the proposal, the constitution would gain a new article stating: “The currency of the Czech Republic is the Czech koruna.” According to the sponsors, the aim is to prevent the question of the country's future currency from being decided by a simple parliamentary majority. If the wording makes it into the constitution, switching to another means of payment would become significantly harder.
Opposition votes needed
Amending a constitutional law in the Czech parliament requires 120 votes out of 200 deputies, plus the support of three-fifths of the senators present. The same threshold must be cleared just for the amendment to be put into the constitution at all. Meanwhile, the ruling coalition holds only 108 deputies' votes and even less support in the Senate, where an earlier attempt to enshrine the koruna already failed.
“We will try to find support across the political spectrum. We understand that even among opposition deputies there are quite a few who would be willing to support such an initiative,” said Šťastný.
Banking on a split in ODS
“We need a constitutional majority, so we'll be looking for it among conservative- and nationalist-leaning members of parliament,” the minister explained. He said the 27-member caucus of the Civic Democrats (ODS) could be a source of support: “I know that ODS is divided,” he noted. The other opposition parties, he said, support adopting the euro.
Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz
