Prime Minister: New bill on church property restitution best solution

Prime Minister Petr Nečas has defended a new bill on the restitution of church property seized by the communist regime. He said that if church property was not restituted by the government by means of new legislation, churches and religious societies could sue the state to claim back their possessions. He added that the idea that the Czech state was returning something to churches and religious societies was a fallacy, since it had never been the rightful owner of that property in the first place. The new bill on the restitution of church property was approved by the government in January and is currently being discussed in the lower house. The opposition, which holds a majority in the Senate, does not back the new bill, under which 17 Czech churches and religious societies will get back 56 percent of the property confiscated by the communist regime in the 1950s.

Author: Sarah Borufka