4th January 2016

Good Governance: Summarizing the year 2015

The Czech Parliament adopted 162 acts since the last general election in 2013 and 170 bills are to be debated before the next general election takes place in 2017, the Czech News Agency and the pravniprostor.cz server wrote. More than 400 bills were submitted; 233 bills were drafted by the government, 130 bills were written by MPs. Some MPs criticize the fact that bills drafted by the government are being prioritized over other bills. Among government bills with a delay in the legislative process are bills extending competence of ombudswoman, cancellation of obligatory assent of the Chamber of Deputies before an MP faces criminal prosecution, and income tax amendment related to tax advantage for a dependent child living with a tax-payer in a common household. Read more.

According to a survey conducted by the ceska-justice.cz server, among the greatest achievements in 2015 were concluded talks between judges and the government on the issue of salaries of judges, appointment of a stable group of constitutional judges (who will stay in office for the next 8 years) and the fact that civil courts' decisions started to be in line with the intent of authors of the new Civil Code. Still, experts who took part in the survey mentioned a number of negative moments, such as European Court of Justice decision Keen and Kennedy vs. Ireland, abuse of power and unfair pre-trial criminal proceedings, changes in the distraint law, etc. Read more.

View also a list of successfully accomplished tasks put down by the Czech Government.

Read also a recently published material on the state of the Czech Police (an article by the ceska-justice.cz server).

Members of the American Chamber of Commerce in the Czech Republic