Thread/rant about the proposed coalition agreement between Piráti & STAN in the Czech Republic, the good, the bad and the ugly. The membership of Piráti will be voting on this agreement tomorrow. The agreement names 8 main priorities, so lets take a look at them first.

1. They want a slim state, and they want to achieve it through decentralisation and more autonomy for local/regional units as well as digitalisation.

Very meh for me, Im not passionate about decentralisation, in Slovakia Im against it, CZ is bigger so I guess it makes more sense

The term slim state is usually a codeword for neoliberalism so thats a red flag, even if it might have a different meaning here. Well they also want to decrease the number of people employed in state service. Digitalisation itself is naturally good, so no complaints there.

2. They want lower taxation of labour and they want to retrieve the lost earnings by removing "unjustified tax exemptions" (which is what exactly?) in order to be able to finance quality public services like education, healthcare and also pensions.

Im not against lower taxation of labour if it gets replaced by more progressive taxation, but the vague formulation means that I cant tell if thats the case here. They later say that they want to reduce tax evasion and tax optimization, so thats encouraging...

...but I would say that this immoral and criminal behaviour should be combatted regardless, in order to ensure elementary fairness, justice and rule of law. It doesnt substitute the need for actual progressive taxation, which isnt really supported in this coalition agreement.

Whats worse, they later say that: Low taxation of work must be accompanied by improving the environment for entrepreneurs and the self-employed. We should cut the red tape and simplify the system. The state can not throw obstacles in the way of active citizens.

Seriously wtf is going on here, have I accidentally started reading the programme of ODS/SPOLU? I knew that a section of Piráti had rightist views, but for the party as a whole to co-sign this kind of libertarian crap is extremely disheartening.

3. They want to remove regional inequalities in terms of access to healthcare and digitalise healthcare.

Well thats a step in the right direction, the healthcare system as a whole could be reformed to function better, not just to be more evenly distributed, but its still cool.

4. They want to increase education expenditures to 5% of GDP, introduce curriculums which meet the needs of the 21st century as well as new types of schools and classes to provide a bigger amount of choice.

The proposed level of education expenditures is still lower than OECD average which is ~5,2% of GDP, but its a substantial increase from the atrocious ~4% which CZ spends on its education. The only OECD countries which spend even less on education are Slovakia, Hungary and Italy.

I think education is one of the main issues for most young people or parents in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and similar countries, education systems in these countries are insanely bad and outdated, it would take a whole thread just to start describing the problems they have.

5. They want to implement regional jurisdiction of distrainors, easier access to insolvency and to ensure better regulation of loans, because debtors also must have a right to a dignified life.

These are crucial proposals, distraints/executions (exekuce) are one of the biggest problems in the Czech Republic, they are very prevalent, they have a whole host of negative societal effects and they are starting to create a marginalized class of the dispossessed.

Almost every 10th adult in the Czech Republic is currently facing execution and there are more than 4 million active executions overall. And they are not limited to adults, one of the more grotesque parts of the system is that there are thousands of kids who are facing execution.

6. Practical steps to protect the climate, the country and nature. Support for smaller farms, protection of land and water at the local level. Measures to support natural retention of water and to fight against erosion.

It would be unfair to say that these are cosmetic changes. but compared to the future were facing, this is so insufficient it hurts. Later on they include better stuff, but its disappointing that at least some of it wasnt considered important enough to be included in priorities.

They later state that they support quick closure of coal-fired power stations. They will consider implementing ecological taxes including a carbon tax and they will consider ending fossil subsidies. They also want to increase the powers of the Ministry of Environment.

7. They will create a national program for innovations and growth of added value with emphasis on research and development as well as support for small- and medium-sized businesses.

Small fixes to save the climate will do, but we need a National Program to support entrepreneurs and innovations? I support changing the structure of the economy to make it more forward-looking and innovative, I just wish they would show this kind of ambition in other areas.

8. They support a transition to a transparent state. They will reduce opportunities for corruption based on recommendations from international experts, protect whistleblowers and ensure enforcement of rules based on the law on conflicts of interest.

Take that, Byung-Chul Han!

Besides that they want to:
Legalise and tax weed
Legalise same-sex marriage
Decrease the gender pay gap
Increase funding for arts and culture
Protect the privacy of citizens and stop the spying of online communication
Enact nationwide referenda, which are shamefully illegal in CZ

But they also want to increase the funding of the military and be a more active participant within NATO, which I disagree with for obvious reasons. And they want to enter ERM II as a preparation for accepting Euro which they want to implement in the longer term.

I completely disagree with this and Im not alone, since the latest poll shows that only 24% of Czechs support the implementation of Euro. The unpopularity of this position is naturally not the biggest problem I have with it, it just shows that it may backfire even electorally.

By embracing Euro, you are embracing a failed project which hasnt succeeded in almost any of its initial goals and was built on an illogical foundation which was ultimately based neither on the "locomotive" or the "coronation" models which were originally discussed.

Because of its illogical architecture and deep structural flaws, Euro stifles economic growth, deepens divisions and inequalities between different EU member states as well as within the states themselves and causes a backlash against the European project as a whole.

Furthermore, by giving up control of your own monetary policy, you are forfeiting important tools to fight against inequality and poverty so you are making future realisation of any progressive economic agenda harder. Euro is a project for the neoliberal right, not for the left.

All in all, what to make of this coalition agreement? It was always clear that forming a coalition with STAN can only move Pirates to the right. This is supposed to be compensated by a better election result and, ideally, the position of the Prime Minister for Pirates.

The difficulty with evaluating the coalition agreement is that its not known how much better the program of Pirates would be without STAN and it cant be known what would be the final election results in a scenario where the coalition was formed and in a scenario where it wasnt.

Should the Pirates approve this document? A reasonable argument can be made for either decision, but as a fan of the Pirates for the last 5 years, I would vote against the coalition agreement and hope that they can either negotiate a better agreement or go their own way.

Piráti were never a leftist party and I have no illusions about that, but they always had a unique voice and perspective that was mostly compatible with my own views and represented an insurgent force that desired a clean break with the status quo.

In this coalition, I dont think its the case anymore. They are embracing a polished and unthreatening liberal-progressive agenda, while they are removing the sharp edges, which made them noteworthy and compelling in the first place, in order to become the managers of the system.

Nevertheless, I expect the membership of Piráti to vote in favour of this agreement, so we will see how my opinion will evolve with time I guess End of thread.