Prague - The Mayor of Prague Pavel Bém gained the so called government guarantees for the Olympic Games to be held in the Czech capital in 2016.
On Tuesday morning Bém met Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek who promised to provide the government guarantees, as confirmed by Bém's assistant Mirka Kreuzerová for Aktuálně.cz.
Securement of the government guarantees forms part of the requirements that the organizers must meet if they want to bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics.
"Without the guarantees the chances to win the bid are equal to zero," said Tomáš Petera, leader of the organizers´ company called Praha Olympijská (Olympic Prague), running the bid.
The official candidate´s questionnaire, which must be supplemented with the government guarantees, is to be submitted to the International Olympic Committee headquarters in Lausanne before January 14.
Final word to be heard on Wednesday
Before that date, the complete government will assemble only once, today (=Wednesday). The Christian Democrats (KDU-ČSL) are more than likely to stand against hosting the Olympics in Prague
"If the Summer Olympics are to take place in Prague, it is more than obvious that a great amount of money will be diverted to the city. These finances will be naturally missing in some other places. I am convinced that it will be especially small towns and the countryside that will lack the funds," said the Christian Democrats´ leader and former Minister of Local Development Jiří Čunek.
He added the Christian Democrats will never support anything that could lead to a wider gap between the cities and the countryside.
A document, which is to be discussed by the government on Wednesday and which Aktuálně.cz has got hold of, says that all the ministries are in accord with providing the legal guarantees. However, the Ministry of Finances has objected to signing the document.
"The statement in the document that providing the legal guarantees does not oblige the government to grant the financial guarantees is not true and is misleading. It is in direct conflict with what the IOC´s questionnaire requests, which sets the financial guarantees as a prerequisite," states the Ministry of Finances.
Prague Greens: Do not vote for the guarantees
It is not clear yet what stand the Green Party will take. The Prague branch of the Green Party has produced a statement to be proposed to the Party Leader Martin Bursík, in which they recommend not to vote for the guarantees.
"We find it shocking that the government is provided only pieces of information about the whole event when pressed for time," states the Greens´ declaration.
On Monday the most active opponents of the Olympic Games in Prague, Independent Mayors´ Union, asked the government to resolutely refuse to provide the government guarantees.
