Social Democrats criticise government-proposed public finance reform

The leadership of the opposition Social Democrats has criticised the government-proposed package of public finance reforms. It recommended to Social Democrat MPs to file a constitutional complaint against it and not to approve the reform package in an upcoming lower house vote. Social Democrat chairman Jiri Paroubek said at a news conference on Saturday that with their reform plan the ruling coalition was creating a country only for the rich. The first stage of the reforms, approved by the cabinet last week, includes changes to the tax and social welfare systems and introduces fees for certain healthcare services.