Church and state settlement unlikely to be reached by end of 2008

The agreement on a property settlement between the state and the church, whose property was confiscated during the communist regime, is unlikely to be reached by the end of this year, shadow culture minister Vítězslav Jandák said on Tuesday. Under the plan submitted by the government the state is to pay 83 billion crowns to churches over a period of 60 years. The state’s obligation to provide financial support to churches would then be abolished. The Chamber of Deputies established a commission in mid-June to prepare a proposal for the settlement after the cabinet had failed to push the bill through in parliament.