Wearing yellow helmets and with their mouths taped shut, representatives of environmental organizations demonstrated today on Old Town Square in front of the Ministry for Regional Development (MMR), expressing their opposition to an amendment to the Construction Act that is intended to definitively limit the public’s ability to comment on the permitting of construction projects with environmental impacts. The protesters were addressed by Minister Ivan Bartoš (Pirates), who said that he supports the participation of associations in the permitting of buildings, but that the MMR has only an indirect influence on the breadth of public participation. The Ministry of the Environment (MoE) is responsible for the legislation of the unified environmental statement.
The amendment to the Construction Act will be debated by the House of Assembly in its second reading this week. Related to this is a new bill on the Unified Environmental Statement (UES), which is intended to merge the permits of all authorities responsible for the environment prior to the construction process.
Environmentalists said they expected the government of Prime Minister Petr Fiala (ODS) to return the restoration of the public’s right to participate in building permits as before 2017, according to the programme statement. But under the proposal approved by the government, the associations said the public will not have a say in 99 percent of projects that affect the environment. This is disappointing, was said at the demonstration, during which representatives of environmentalists stood in a square in front of the MMR building holding banners with the names of the various associations. “The government is negotiating (with lobbyists) and you citizens shut up,” one of the banners also proclaimed. In their speeches, the speakers reiterated that they had a constitutional right to a favourable environment and wanted the public to have a say in the constructions that affect them.
Ministry staff brought out a table with coffee and tea in front of the building and wrote on a board that the MMR was dealing with the construction law and that public participation in construction in the SES fell under the MoE. After about 20 minutes, Minister Bartos came before the protesters. He said that he supported the participation of associations in the permitting of constructions, but the full text of the proposal could not be maintained and only applied to constructions with significant environmental impact (EIA), which he said was about four percent of constructions. “The outcome is then, of course, dependent on political negotiations and ultimately on the proceedings of the House of Commons, where both bills now go to a second reading,” he later tweeted.
Environmentalists say lawmakers want to vote for faster building permits, but few want to vote for environmental protection. That’s why we need to go around all ministries and all MPs to make them realise that this is important, the demonstration heard. The environmentalists handed Bartoš an open letter with 150 signatures of individual organisations. According to the ecologists, public control and transparency of the authorities’ decision-making is also an irreplaceable anti-corruption measure and a prevention against some erroneous decisions of the authorities.
Source: CTK
