The Czech government has announced plans to cover at least one-third of the rent for stores and businesses closed by government decree from March 12 until the end of June. Prime Minister Andrej Babiš made the announcement over the weekend, but he’s being pushed to reach even deeper into the country’s pockets. Deputy PM Karel Havlíček had earlier proposed the state cover 50 percent of the rent, while landlords would sacrifice 30 percent of the amount they expected, a division of pain that’s preferred by the International Association of Shopping Centers chairman Jan Kubíček. He said shopping centers were among the first to be hurt by the government’s measures, with the sector losing tens of billions of crowns each month. “Our tenants have a lot of money tied up in inventory, so for the most part they don’t have the capital to survive the situation without state support.” But he warned that support must be coordinated or else many tenants wouldn’t survive and the whole sector could collapse. “A fair solution should be found,” tweeted the president of the Union of Trade and Tourism Tomáš Prouza in support of the government’s plan. “This sort of help would give stores a greater chance to survive and the main thing is not fire employees.” More coverage of this issue available on the latest episode of the CIJ Radio podcast at the following link: bit.ly/cijradio7
