Social Demcorats want referendum on church property agreement

The Social Democratic Party has called for a public referendum on the government’s plan for property settlement with churches. The party plans to submit a constitutional law on the poll on Wednesday, as the appropriate legislation for general referendums does not exist. In pushing the proposal, the chairman of the Social Democrats, Bohuslav Sobotka, referred to the recent calls of Prime Minister Petr Nečas for a referendum on whether to adopt the euro. Mr Sobotka said the church restitution would be the largest shift of property and finances since the 1990s and that it should be approved or rejected by the citizenry. The new agreement provides that the state will pay the churches 59 billion crowns over thirty years and 56% of the property in question would be restituted in kind.