On Thursday, the Czech government announced a package of austerity measures to reduce the country’s budget deficit. Prime Minister Petr Fiala said that the fat years were over and that the lean years were ahead. The opposition has criticised the austerity measures as brutal.
The package of reforms was born out of the advice of the National Economic Council, a group of independent experts who advise the government on economic issues. The current government is largely a centre-right coalition led by the Civic Democrats.
Prime Minister Fiala said that the time was right to announce such cuts or reforms. He noted that the government had declared from the outset that this was an item on their agenda, and that they had to take the electoral cycle into account. He also said that the reforms were necessary, and that economic experts were united in saying that the country’s government needed to enact some cuts to balance the budget.
When asked about the risks for the government involved in presenting such a plan, Fiala said that the opposition would criticise governmental policies or even the lack of activity, so he wouldn’t say that it’s such a big deal. He also said that he was optimistic about the set-up of the reforms, but less optimistic about their implementation.
Overall, the package of reforms is a result of a very complicated negotiation, and it remains to be seen how Czech society will accept them.