Quality of Democracy
#23Key Findings
With the previous prime minister having sharply divided society, Czechia falls into the middle ranks (rank 23) in terms of democracy quality. Its score on this measure has declined by 0.6 points relative to 2014.
Media mogul Andrej Babiš served out his term as prime minister despite ongoing investigations into corruption allegations involving the misuse of EU funds. Babiš’ company dominates the daily print media, and benefited disproportionately from pandemic aid. The group’s publications have been biased against other political parties.
At the beginning of the pandemic, the government refused to publish COVID-19 information such as hospital bed vacancy rates. Media and NGOs used the freedom of information law to gain access to the data. Civil rights and political liberties are largely protected, although temporary COVID-19 rules limited these rights. Women and Roma people face persistent discrimination.
Drive-through voting was approved during the pandemic, and the new government has promised to institute postal voting. Legal changes during the initial phases of the pandemic were chaotic, and were frequently overturned by courts. Corruption and clientelism remain widespread.
Media mogul Andrej Babiš served out his term as prime minister despite ongoing investigations into corruption allegations involving the misuse of EU funds. Babiš’ company dominates the daily print media, and benefited disproportionately from pandemic aid. The group’s publications have been biased against other political parties.
At the beginning of the pandemic, the government refused to publish COVID-19 information such as hospital bed vacancy rates. Media and NGOs used the freedom of information law to gain access to the data. Civil rights and political liberties are largely protected, although temporary COVID-19 rules limited these rights. Women and Roma people face persistent discrimination.
Drive-through voting was approved during the pandemic, and the new government has promised to institute postal voting. Legal changes during the initial phases of the pandemic were chaotic, and were frequently overturned by courts. Corruption and clientelism remain widespread.
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How fair are procedures for registering candidates and parties?
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Legal regulations provide for a fair registration procedure for all elections; candidates and parties are not discriminated against.
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A few restrictions on election procedures discriminate against a small number of candidates and parties.
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Some unreasonable restrictions on election procedures exist that discriminate against many candidates and parties.
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Discriminating registration procedures for elections are widespread and prevent a large number of potential candidates or parties from participating.
Electoral registration procedures are fair and transparent. To establish a political party, three citizens aged 18 or over need to submit the new party’s statutes to authorities, backed by 1,000 signatures. The 1991 law on political parties and movements establishes conditions to exclude parties lacking democratically elected organs or that aim to remove the democratic foundations of the state, restrict the freedoms of other parties, or threaten morality and public order. There are occasional calls to ban the Communist party, but no legal steps have been taken, and there is no consensus that such measures are necessary. A total of 22 political groupings took part in the parliamentary elections in October 2021, and no conflicts over the registration of candidates occurred. Since 2012, the president of Czechia has been elected by citizens in a direct election. Any citizen with the right to vote who has reached 40 years of age is eligible to run for election for a maximum of two consecutive five-year terms. The candidate must gain at least 50,000 confirmed signatures by citizens, 10 signatures by senators or 20 signatures by members of parliament.
To what extent do candidates and parties have fair access to the media and other means of communication?
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All candidates and parties have equal opportunities of access to the media and other means of communication. All major media outlets provide a fair and balanced coverage of the range of different political positions.
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Candidates and parties have largely equal opportunities of access to the media and other means of communication. The major media outlets provide a fair and balanced coverage of different political positions.
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Candidates and parties often do not have equal opportunities of access to the media and other means of communication. While the major media outlets represent a partisan political bias, the media system as a whole provides fair coverage of different political positions.
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Candidates and parties lack equal opportunities of access to the media and other means of communications. The major media outlets are biased in favor of certain political groups or views and discriminate against others.
The electoral law guarantees parties access to state radio and television, with a total of 14 hours set aside for all parties to express their views with equal allocation irrespective of the party’s size or previous electoral performance. Thus, all parties have access to the public media, although presentations are often tedious and unlikely to hold viewers’ and listeners’ attention. Municipalities also provide billboards, and political advertisements are carried in newspapers. However, there is a distinct coverage bias toward the larger parties due to more significant resources and perception of importance. Moreover, coverage by private media is less balanced than that of public media. While there are oversight mechanisms for public TV and radio, such mechanisms are largely lacking for private media, especially in the online space. A particular issue has been the growing ownership of media outlets by Andrej Babiš, who was prime minister between the end of 2017 and the end of 2021. Babiš’s media outlets have been biased against other parties, including his own government’s coalition partners.
To what extent do all citizens have the opportunity to exercise their right of participation in national elections?
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All adult citizens can participate in national elections. All eligible voters are registered if they wish to be. There are no discriminations observable in the exercise of the right to vote. There are no disincentives to voting.
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The procedures for the registration of voters and voting are for the most part effective, impartial and nondiscriminatory. Citizens can appeal to courts if they feel being discriminated. Disincentives to voting generally do not constitute genuine obstacles.
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While the procedures for the registration of voters and voting are de jure non-discriminatory, isolated cases of discrimination occur in practice. For some citizens, disincentives to voting constitute significant obstacles.
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The procedures for the registration of voters or voting have systemic discriminatory effects. De facto, a substantial number of adult citizens are excluded from national elections.
All adult citizens, including convicted prisoners, can participate in national elections, and voter registration is relatively straightforward. EU citizens who are permanent residents of Czechia can participate in municipal and European elections; EU citizens who are only temporary residents of Czechia can at least participate in municipal elections. However, while special provisions for a mobile ballot box facilitate voting for the disabled and seriously ill, there is no general ability to vote by mail. Czech citizens residing abroad can vote at Czech embassies and consulates. For them, participation in elections is complicated by having to meet a special deadline for registration and the fact that there are only a limited number of embassies and consulates. Postal ballot provision is included in the Fiala government manifesto. With a view to the COVID-19 pandemic, a special drive-thru voting option was established for the 2020 regional and Senate elections, and the 2021 parliamentary elections in order to enable those in quarantine to vote.
To what extent is private and public party financing and electoral campaign financing transparent, effectively monitored and in case of infringement of rules subject to proportionate and dissuasive sanction?
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The state enforces that donations to political parties are made public and provides for independent monitoring to that respect. Effective measures to prevent evasion are effectively in place and infringements subject to effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions.
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The state enforces that donations to political parties are made public and provides for independent monitoring. Although infringements are subject to proportionate sanctions, some, although few, loopholes and options for circumvention still exist.
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The state provides that donations to political parties shall be published. Party financing is subject to some degree of independent monitoring but monitoring either proves regularly ineffective or proportionate sanctions in case of infringement do not follow.
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The rules for party and campaign financing do not effectively enforce the obligation to make the donations public. Party and campaign financing is neither monitored independently nor, in case of infringements, subject to proportionate sanctions.
The rules for party and campaign financing and their enforcement have been a major political issue for some time. In April 2015, the Ministry of Interior eventually submitted an amendment to the law on political parties to parliament. The proposal was based on the Group of States against Corruption of the Council of Europe (GRECO) recommendations to Czechia issued in 2011 and came into force in January 2017. The law introduced financial limits for party financing and electoral campaigns, the mandatory establishment of transparent accounts, and greater revenue regulation of political parties and movements. Compliance with the new rules for publishing financial reports has grown over time. While the Office for the Oversight of the Political Parties and Political Movements (Úřad pro dohled nad hospodařením politických stran a politických hnutí, ÚHHPSH), the independent regulatory authority in charge of monitoring party and campaign finance, recommended suspending the activities of 45 parties for violating some of the rules in 2020 and 2021, almost all relevant parties have largely complied with the new provisions. However, prior to the vote of investiture in December 2021, it turned out that STAN (Mayors and Independents), one of the coalition partners of the new Fiala government, had accepted donations from an anonymous account in Cyprus, leading to the new government’s first scandal.
Do citizens have the opportunity to take binding political decisions when they want to do so?
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Citizens have the effective opportunity to actively propose and take binding decisions on issues of importance to them through popular initiatives and referendums. The set of eligible issues is extensive, and includes national, regional, and local issues.
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Citizens have the effective opportunity to take binding decisions on issues of importance to them through either popular initiatives or referendums. The set of eligible issues covers at least two levels of government.
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Citizens have the effective opportunity to vote on issues of importance to them through a legally binding measure. The set of eligible issues is limited to one level of government.
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Citizens have no effective opportunity to vote on issues of importance to them through a legally binding measure.
In Czechia, there is no legal framework for referendums at the national level. On the municipal and regional level, referendums exist and are held on issues such as mining, the construction of nuclear fuel/waste plants, stricter regulations on lotteries and gaming, and the use of public space and municipal property. Initially, a minimum participation of at least 25% of registered voters was stipulated (298/1992 Col.), which was later increased to 50% (22/2004 Col.) and finally was settled at 35% of registered voters (169/2008 Col.) being required to ensure the validity of a referendum. In 2020 and 2021, 53 local and regional referendums were held in Czechia. The majority of the referendums on local issues took place alongside the 2020 regional and Senate elections, and the 2021 parliamentary elections.
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To what extent are the media independent from government?
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Public and private media are independent from government influence; their independence is institutionally protected and fully respected by the incumbent government.
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The incumbent government largely respects the independence of media. However, there are occasional attempts to exert influence.
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The incumbent government seeks to ensure its political objectives indirectly by influencing the personnel policies, organizational framework or financial resources of public media, and/or the licensing regime/market access for private media.
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Major media outlets are frequently influenced by the incumbent government promoting its partisan political objectives. To ensure pro-government media reporting, governmental actors exert direct political pressure and violate existing rules of media regulation or change them to benefit their interests.
Czechia was long characterized by a high degree of media freedom, partially due to the independence of the public media, but also because foreign media owners did not exercise any visible influence over the content and coverage of the private media. However, the replacement of foreign owners by domestic oligarchs and the capture of much of the Czech media market by Andrej Babiš, prime minister from the end of 2017 to the end of 2021, have reduced media freedom. Babiš has used his media power to support his political position and to denigrate opponents. The independence of the public media has been questioned given the controversial nominations and appointments to the councils supervising the public broadcaster Czech Televion (ČT), the country’s most trusted news source, Czech Radio (ČR) and the Czech news agency (ČTK). In December 2021, hundreds of ČR employees signed a petition against the new director for news given fears of undue influence. The candidate had a public track record of manipulating media coverage of the “refugee crisis” in her prior job as head of news at a private TV channel. After several days of employee and public pressure, the director of ČR withdrew the controversial nomination. Prime Minister Babiš and President Zeman have repeatedly criticized the public media for their alleged bias, thereby showing a lack of respect for media freedoms. Just before the parliamentary elections in October 2021, Babiš banned a group of journalists from Czech and foreign media outlets from attending his press conference with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán (Boková 2021).
Citations:
Boková, T. (2021): Babiš’s Media: The Erosion of Freedom of Press in Czechia, in: VerfBlog, October 15 (https://verfassungsblog.de/babiss-media/, DOI: 10.17176/20211016-045233-0).
Citations:
Boková, T. (2021): Babiš’s Media: The Erosion of Freedom of Press in Czechia, in: VerfBlog, October 15 (https://verfassungsblog.de/babiss-media/, DOI: 10.17176/20211016-045233-0).
To what extent are the media characterized by an ownership structure that ensures a pluralism of opinions?
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Diversified ownership structures characterize both the electronic and print media market, providing a well-balanced pluralism of opinions. Effective anti-monopoly policies and impartial, open public media guarantee a pluralism of opinions.
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Diversified ownership structures prevail in the electronic and print media market. Public media compensate for deficiencies or biases in private media reporting by representing a wider range of opinions.
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Oligopolistic ownership structures characterize either the electronic or the print media market. Important opinions are represented but there are no or only weak institutional guarantees against the predominance of certain opinions.
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Oligopolistic ownership structures characterize both the electronic and the print media market. Few companies dominate the media, most programs are biased, and there is evidence that certain opinions are not published or are marginalized.
Media pluralism in Czechia has benefited from a relatively independent public media. However, the private media market has suffered from a concentration of media ownership, the departure of several international owners and the broadening of the scope of media holdings (print, online, radio and television). Babiš’s business, MAFRA, dominates the daily print media, with an estimated 3.2 million readers, and the country’s online media, with an estimated 3.3 million daily users. It benefited disproportionately from pandemic-related state aid for cultural institutions (Kottova 2020). A major change in media ownership was the purchase in October 2020 of the Central European Media Enterprises (CME), an international media and entertainment company, by the PPF Group owned by Czech billionaire Petr Kellner. CME owns television stations in five countries in East-Central Europe (Bulgaria, Czechia, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia). In contrast to Babiš’s outlets, there have been no reports of political interference in news reporting. Kellner died in a helicopter crash in Alaska in March 2021, leaving the future uncertain.
Citations:
Kottova, A. (2020): Babišova vláda chystá pomoc médiím. ‚Záleží na rozpočtu, teď nemůžeme rozdávat nic,‘ říká Zaorálek (Babiš government preparing aid for the media. ‘It depends on the budget, now we cannot give away anything’ says Zaoralek). in: iRozhlas, June 23 (https://www.irozhlas.cz/kultura/kor onavirus-podpora-media-ministerstvo -kultury-zaoralek-babis-mafra _2006231300_ako).
Citations:
Kottova, A. (2020): Babišova vláda chystá pomoc médiím. ‚Záleží na rozpočtu, teď nemůžeme rozdávat nic,‘ říká Zaorálek (Babiš government preparing aid for the media. ‘It depends on the budget, now we cannot give away anything’ says Zaoralek). in: iRozhlas, June 23 (https://www.irozhlas.cz/kultura/kor onavirus-podpora-media-ministerstvo -kultury-zaoralek-babis-mafra _2006231300_ako).
To what extent can citizens obtain official information?
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Legal regulations guarantee free and easy access to official information, contain few, reasonable restrictions, and there are effective mechanisms of appeal and oversight enabling citizens to access information.
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Access to official information is regulated by law. Most restrictions are justified, but access is sometimes complicated by bureaucratic procedures. Existing appeal and oversight mechanisms permit citizens to enforce their right of access.
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Access to official information is partially regulated by law, but complicated by bureaucratic procedures and some poorly justified restrictions. Existing appeal and oversight mechanisms are often ineffective.
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Access to official information is not regulated by law; there are many restrictions of access, bureaucratic procedures and no or ineffective mechanisms of enforcement.
The Czech constitution and the 1999 Law on Free Access to Information, substantially amended in 2006, provide for extensive access to government information. Public bodies have gradually learned what can and cannot be kept secret. Most ministries and larger public bodies now include a special section with the information provided upon request. The Babiš government has increased the visibility of the eKLEP (Electronic Library of Legislative Process). eKLEP allows the public to follow legal proposals from the point of creation to approval or rejection. All draft legislative documents are available and regularly updated. While central-government bodies are rather transparent, there are still difficulties in accessing government information within many municipalities. However, these bodies too can be taken to court if officials refuse to respond to requests for information. Some smaller municipalities have faced stiff financial penalties following failures to disclose information as requested. As a result, the actions of municipalities are becoming more transparent; for instance, municipal board meetings are being streamed online, and citizens are being allowed to participate in municipal activities in other interactive ways. Larger municipalities tend to be more open than their smaller counterparts.
When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, conflicts over access to government information gained importance. At the beginning of the pandemic, the government refrained from publishing major pandemic-related information. Media and NGOs had to invoke the freedom of information law to access controversial information on the availability of hospital beds and frontline personnel, and the acquisition of personal protective equipment by the government. In spring 2020, the government considered the idea of amending the law on access to information in order to restrict the provision of information during states of emergency. When the media found out, however, the opposition pushed back and the government left the law unchanged.
When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, conflicts over access to government information gained importance. At the beginning of the pandemic, the government refrained from publishing major pandemic-related information. Media and NGOs had to invoke the freedom of information law to access controversial information on the availability of hospital beds and frontline personnel, and the acquisition of personal protective equipment by the government. In spring 2020, the government considered the idea of amending the law on access to information in order to restrict the provision of information during states of emergency. When the media found out, however, the opposition pushed back and the government left the law unchanged.
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To what extent does the state respect and protect civil rights and how effectively are citizens protected by courts against infringements of their rights?
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All state institutions respect and effectively protect civil rights. Citizens are effectively protected by courts against infringements of their rights. Infringements present an extreme exception.
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The state respects and protects rights, with few infringements. Courts provide protection.
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Despite formal protection, frequent infringements of civil rights occur and court protection often proves ineffective.
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State institutions respect civil rights only formally, and civil rights are frequently violated. Court protection is not effective.
The government and administration of Czechia respect and protect its citizens’ basic civil rights. As indicated by complaints lodged with the European Court of Human Rights and the Public Defender of Rights, Czechia’s ombudsman, the main problem is the length of legal proceedings. The relatively high number of complaints compared to other East-Central European countries shows that Czech citizens are increasingly aware of their civil rights and have the financial, cultural and social resources to pursue these rights. The fight against COVID-19 led to a number of temporary limitations on civil rights, including a temporary ban on citizens’ ability to leave the country in the spring of 2020. However, the requirements of legality, necessity, proportionality and time-boundedness were largely upheld.
To what extent does the state concede and protect political liberties?
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All state institutions concede and effectively protect political liberties.
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All state institutions for the most part concede and protect political liberties. There are only few infringements.
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State institutions concede political liberties but infringements occur regularly in practice.
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Political liberties are unsatisfactory codified and frequently violated.
Political liberties are protected, respected and used in Czechia. This applies to freedom of speech, freedom of association and assembly, and freedom of religion. The country has a vibrant and politically active civil society, which played a major role in keeping the government accountable during the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19-related restrictions on assembly during the repeated states of emergency in 2020 and 2021 largely met the requirements of legality, necessity, proportionality and non-discrimination. For some time, the number of participants allowed to attend a protest was temporarily limited to 100, with social distancing and masks required. These rules were largely followed. In November 2020, the Million Moments for Democracy initiative creatively reacted to the restrictions and organized its first online protest (on YouTube), which attracted over 50,000 participants. When the restrictions were not respected by anti-mask and anti-vaccination protesters, the police acted professionally. The police also sided with the citizens when asked by Minister of Health Adam Vojtech (ANO) to prevent large-scale anti-government demonstrations for health reasons in June 2020. Czechia managed to organize the regional and Senate elections in October 2020, and the parliamentary elections in October 2021 amidst the pandemic.
How effectively does the state protect against different forms of discrimination?
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State institutions effectively protect against and actively prevent discrimination. Cases of discrimination are extremely rare.
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State anti-discrimination protections are moderately successful. Few cases of discrimination are observed.
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State anti-discrimination efforts show limited success. Many cases of discrimination can be observed.
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The state does not offer effective protection against discrimination. Discrimination is widespread in the public sector and in society.
The Czech legal system guarantees equality of access to work, education, and social services before the law. The implementation of EU directives has underpinned such guarantees and has helped to limit discrimination. Still, gender discrimination remains a relatively serious problem compared to other developed countries. The gap between the average wages of women and men has decreased slightly, to 18.9%, but this remains one of the highest rates in the European Union. The representation of women in national-level political bodies increased slightly in 2021 when the highest number of women (25%) entered the parliament (31.6% of candidates were women). However, women’s representation in other decision-making positions has also remained comparatively weak. The World Economic Forum’s 2021 Global Gender Gap Report ranked Czechia 78th out of 156 countries, primarily due to the challenges facing women in the areas of economic participation and opportunity, and political empowerment (World Economic Forum 2021).
Another issue is the discrimination against Roma people. Approximately half of the Roma population (estimated at 250,000 individuals or 1.93% of the population) live in poverty, indebtedness, and suffer from forms of discrimination in employment and housing provision. According to government records, the risk of poverty for Roma is six times higher than for the general population. The Czech majority continues to hold a negative perception of the Roma minority. Public opinion surveys report that Roma are perceived as being the second-most unsympathetic Czech minority, after Arabs. The main obstacles to participating in the labor market faced by Roma are societal prejudices and discrimination, and low average educational attainment and skills levels. Participation is key to the emancipation of the Roma, but voter turnout among the Roma is traditionally low. At present, there are no Roma members of parliament, and their representation in regional and municipal councils is insignificant. To address these issues, the government, in spring 2021, adopted an update of its 2015 Roma integration strategy (Czech Government 2021). The update was drafted in close collaboration with the Czech Government Council for Romani Minority Affairs and with representatives of the Romani community.
Discrimination of LGBTQ+ people exists, but is limited compared to other East-Central European countries (Guasti/ Buštíková 2020). While the Catholic Church has intensified its pro-life and anti-LGBTQ+ activism, some Protestant churches have started to cooperate with LGBTQ+ advocacy groups. Public opinion regarding the adoption of children by same-sex couples has become more positive.
Citations:
Czech Government (2021): Strategie rovnosti, začlenění a participace Romů
(Strategie romské integrace) 2021–2030. Prague (https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/default/files/strategie-2021-2030_final.pdf).
Guasti, P., L. Buštíková (2020): In Europe’s Closet: the rights of sexual minorities in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, in East European Politics 36(2): 226-246 (https://doi.org/10.1080/21599165.2019.1705282).
World Economic Forum (2021): The Global Gender Gap Report 2021. Geneva (https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GGGR_2021.pdf).
Another issue is the discrimination against Roma people. Approximately half of the Roma population (estimated at 250,000 individuals or 1.93% of the population) live in poverty, indebtedness, and suffer from forms of discrimination in employment and housing provision. According to government records, the risk of poverty for Roma is six times higher than for the general population. The Czech majority continues to hold a negative perception of the Roma minority. Public opinion surveys report that Roma are perceived as being the second-most unsympathetic Czech minority, after Arabs. The main obstacles to participating in the labor market faced by Roma are societal prejudices and discrimination, and low average educational attainment and skills levels. Participation is key to the emancipation of the Roma, but voter turnout among the Roma is traditionally low. At present, there are no Roma members of parliament, and their representation in regional and municipal councils is insignificant. To address these issues, the government, in spring 2021, adopted an update of its 2015 Roma integration strategy (Czech Government 2021). The update was drafted in close collaboration with the Czech Government Council for Romani Minority Affairs and with representatives of the Romani community.
Discrimination of LGBTQ+ people exists, but is limited compared to other East-Central European countries (Guasti/ Buštíková 2020). While the Catholic Church has intensified its pro-life and anti-LGBTQ+ activism, some Protestant churches have started to cooperate with LGBTQ+ advocacy groups. Public opinion regarding the adoption of children by same-sex couples has become more positive.
Citations:
Czech Government (2021): Strategie rovnosti, začlenění a participace Romů
(Strategie romské integrace) 2021–2030. Prague (https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/default/files/strategie-2021-2030_final.pdf).
Guasti, P., L. Buštíková (2020): In Europe’s Closet: the rights of sexual minorities in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, in East European Politics 36(2): 226-246 (https://doi.org/10.1080/21599165.2019.1705282).
World Economic Forum (2021): The Global Gender Gap Report 2021. Geneva (https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GGGR_2021.pdf).
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To what extent do government and administration act on the basis of and in accordance with legal provisions to provide legal certainty?
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Government and administration act predictably, on the basis of and in accordance with legal provisions. Legal regulations are consistent and transparent, ensuring legal certainty.
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Government and administration rarely make unpredictable decisions. Legal regulations are consistent, but leave a large scope of discretion to the government or administration.
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Government and administration sometimes make unpredictable decisions that go beyond given legal bases or do not conform to existing legal regulations. Some legal regulations are inconsistent and contradictory.
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Government and administration often make unpredictable decisions that lack a legal basis or ignore existing legal regulations. Legal regulations are inconsistent, full of loopholes and contradict each other.
In Czechia, executive actions have tended to be predictable and undertaken in accordance with the law. Government adherence to the law was stretched by the COVID-19 pandemic. During the initial phases, the publication of government directives on pandemic mitigation was chaotic, with numerous ad hoc changes and in a number of cases independent courts concluded that the restrictions on individual liberties had not been adequately justified. These included a judgment in April 2020 by the Prague Municipal Court against the limits imposed on freedom of movement and the compulsory closure of large shops, and a judgment in February 2021 by the Constitutional Court against part of the government ban on some retail and services due to the pandemic. The Supreme Administrative Court also rejected numerous directives by the Ministry of Health.
To what extent do independent courts control whether government and administration act in conformity with the law?
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Independent courts effectively review executive action and ensure that the government and administration act in conformity with the law.
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Independent courts usually manage to control whether the government and administration act in conformity with the law.
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Courts are independent, but often fail to ensure legal compliance.
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Courts are biased for or against the incumbent government and lack effective control.
Czech courts operate independently of the executive branch of government. The ordinary courts and the Constitutional Court alike have continued their work even during the states of emergency and have been quite active during the COVID-19 pandemic. They have annulled several government measures and have forced the government to act in a less erratic manner (Vikarská 2021). Unlike the Supreme Administrative Court and the lower courts, the Constitutional Court initially exercised self-restraint. In a controversial decision in April 2020, supported by only eight out of 15 judges, it declared the government’s declaration of a state of emergency constitutional and limited the scope for the judicial review of the emergency measures. Over time, the court has changed course and has re-widened its mandate. In February 2021, it repealed crucial provisions of the electoral law regarding the allocation of seats and the threshold for coalitions (Antoš/ Horák 2021). The surprising ruling forced the political parties to agree on new rules for the parliamentary elections in October 2021. Four of the 15 judges did not join the majority decision.
The appointment of Marie Benešová as justice minister in May 2019 raised some concerns about the independence of the judiciary. Her proposal to set new term limits for prosecutors has been perceived by the majority of the judiciary and most experts as an attempt at political interference with the courts. She continued to clash repeatedly with the Prosecutor General Pavel Zeman, who resigned on 14 May 2021 after more than a decade in office, citing undue pressure from the justice minister. Zeman’s last major case was the 2014 explosion of the ammunition depot in Vrbetice, for which – as revealed in 2021 – the Russian secret service GRU was responsible. In July 2021, the government appointed Zeman’s deputy, Igor Striz, prosecutor general. The opposition criticized the choice as Striz was a military prosecutor during the communist era.
Citations:
Antoš, M., F. Horák (2021): Better Late than Never: The Czech Constitutional Court Found the Electoral System Disproportionate 9 Months before Election, in: VerfBlog, February 20 (https://verfassungsblog.de/better-late-than-never/, DOI: 10.17176/20210221-033756-0).
Vikarská, Z. (2021): Czech and Balances – One Year Later, in: VerfBlog, March 30 (https://verfassungsblog.de/czechs-and-balances-one-year-later/, DOI: 10.17176/20210330-195055-0).
The appointment of Marie Benešová as justice minister in May 2019 raised some concerns about the independence of the judiciary. Her proposal to set new term limits for prosecutors has been perceived by the majority of the judiciary and most experts as an attempt at political interference with the courts. She continued to clash repeatedly with the Prosecutor General Pavel Zeman, who resigned on 14 May 2021 after more than a decade in office, citing undue pressure from the justice minister. Zeman’s last major case was the 2014 explosion of the ammunition depot in Vrbetice, for which – as revealed in 2021 – the Russian secret service GRU was responsible. In July 2021, the government appointed Zeman’s deputy, Igor Striz, prosecutor general. The opposition criticized the choice as Striz was a military prosecutor during the communist era.
Citations:
Antoš, M., F. Horák (2021): Better Late than Never: The Czech Constitutional Court Found the Electoral System Disproportionate 9 Months before Election, in: VerfBlog, February 20 (https://verfassungsblog.de/better-late-than-never/, DOI: 10.17176/20210221-033756-0).
Vikarská, Z. (2021): Czech and Balances – One Year Later, in: VerfBlog, March 30 (https://verfassungsblog.de/czechs-and-balances-one-year-later/, DOI: 10.17176/20210330-195055-0).
To what extent does the process of appointing (supreme or constitutional court) justices guarantee the independence of the judiciary?
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9
Justices are appointed in a cooperative appointment process with special majority requirements.
8
7
6
7
6
Justices are exclusively appointed by different bodies with special majority requirements or in a cooperative selection process without special majority requirements.
5
4
3
4
3
Justices are exclusively appointed by different bodies without special majority requirements.
2
1
1
All judges are appointed exclusively by a single body irrespective of other institutions.
The justices of the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Administrative Court are appointed by the Senate, the second chamber of the Czech parliament, based on proposals made by the president. Within the Senate, no special majority requirement applies. The process of appointing judges is transparent and adequately covered by public media. Moreover, the involvement of both the president and the Senate increases the likelihood of balance in judges’ political views and other characteristics. As a result, President Zeman’s proposals have remained uncontroversial. This also applies to the appointment of Pavel Šámal, a professor of criminal law and former head of the Supreme Court, to the Constitutional Court in February 2020.
To what extent are public officeholders prevented from abusing their position for private interests?
10
9
9
Legal, political and public integrity mechanisms effectively prevent public officeholders from abusing their positions.
8
7
6
7
6
Most integrity mechanisms function effectively and provide disincentives for public officeholders willing to abuse their positions.
5
4
3
4
3
Some integrity mechanisms function, but do not effectively prevent public officeholders from abusing their positions.
2
1
1
Public officeholders can exploit their offices for private gain as they see fit without fear of legal consequences or adverse publicity.
In Czechia, corruption and clientelism remain widespread. Successive governments have emphasized their commitment to fighting corruption, but have done little to address the issue. Two significant changes were implemented in 2017: amendments were made to the law on party finance and to the law on conflicts of interest. However, major cases take years to resolve and often end in mistrials. There are no public statistics on the number of cases of successfully prosecuted public officials.
Problems with fighting corruption are highlighted by the case of Andrej Babiš, prime minister from 2017 to 2021. The main issue concerns the use of EU funds, which were intended to support SMEs, to finance a business that was temporarily detached from his conglomerate, but returned to his control after the subsidy was received. Despite demands from the opposition for his resignation, and public demonstrations in Prague and other cities, Babiš weathered the storm – governing to the end of his term, as the prosecution case against him progressed at a snail’s pace. MAFRA media portrayed the case as a witch hunt by the opposition and the European Union. Agrofert holding and its subsidiaries remained the largest recipient of EU and Czech government funds in Czechia. In April 2021, the European Commission published the conclusion of its audit, which stated that Babiš still controlled the business, despite having set up trust funds to hold the shares, and that his company must repay the estimated €11 million it had received from the European Union since February 2017. A further case revealed in October 2021 in the Pandora Papers that Babiš had used an offshore company to buy property in France, hoping to avoid French and possibly also Czech taxes. There were multiple signs of corruption during the pandemic, with contracts allocated to apparently inappropriate companies, while Agrofert became one of the major producers of anti-COVID-19 disinfectants.
Problems with fighting corruption are highlighted by the case of Andrej Babiš, prime minister from 2017 to 2021. The main issue concerns the use of EU funds, which were intended to support SMEs, to finance a business that was temporarily detached from his conglomerate, but returned to his control after the subsidy was received. Despite demands from the opposition for his resignation, and public demonstrations in Prague and other cities, Babiš weathered the storm – governing to the end of his term, as the prosecution case against him progressed at a snail’s pace. MAFRA media portrayed the case as a witch hunt by the opposition and the European Union. Agrofert holding and its subsidiaries remained the largest recipient of EU and Czech government funds in Czechia. In April 2021, the European Commission published the conclusion of its audit, which stated that Babiš still controlled the business, despite having set up trust funds to hold the shares, and that his company must repay the estimated €11 million it had received from the European Union since February 2017. A further case revealed in October 2021 in the Pandora Papers that Babiš had used an offshore company to buy property in France, hoping to avoid French and possibly also Czech taxes. There were multiple signs of corruption during the pandemic, with contracts allocated to apparently inappropriate companies, while Agrofert became one of the major producers of anti-COVID-19 disinfectants.