A new non-governmental Internet project Contract for the Czech Republic has started in the Czech Republic. Its goal is to create a concept of the economy that makes sense and is understandable for all citizens. The best way to do this is to involve the public in a debate that directs the economy to specific priorities affecting people’s living standards, the authors of the project, which was created under the guarantee of the Czech News Center media house, are convinced.
One of the most academically successful European economists, Filip Matějka, and popular economic and political commentator Lenka Zlámalová are behind the Treaty for the Czech Republic project. “The media still has enormous power to set the agenda. Raise topics. But they don’t do that much. That’s why we thought we’d give it a try. That we will use the large impact of CNC media. And we will try to involve people to tell the politicians themselves how they imagine their future. Put together a new social contract between people and politicians. Hence the name Contract for the Czech Republic,” says Lenka Zlámalová.
The inspiration was a similar project by the German newspaper Bild. “He came at a time when Gerhard Schröder became chancellor during the crisis, with the idea to stir up the debate on how to return the economy to prosperity again. In the following years, Schröder’s government made some of the biggest reforms in Germany in decades,” says Zlámalová.
The aim of the Contract for the Czech Republic project is to get as many people’s opinions as possible and then confront economists, sociologists and politicians with them in debates. “We live in a time when political decisions are often influenced by public opinion polls. We therefore want to show politicians through them what people expect, especially in the areas of pensions, healthcare and education,” states Lenka Zlámalová.
The discussion on key topics such as pensions, salaries, social benefits, prices is currently fragmented into an incomprehensible chaos of lots of conflicting ideas and details. “We would like everyone to focus on what is really important and not get lost in the little things that ultimately complicate political decision-making and worsen the outcome for the economy,” says Filip Matějka, pointing to the ongoing debate about how much debt we have due to pensioners and whether the retirement age should be raised. “But we never talk about the simple and most important thing: what for what.” For example, retiring one year earlier means that employees will have approximately CZK 1,200 less in net wages every month due to higher taxes, Matějka calculates.
The Treaty for the Czech Republic project encourages citizens to actively participate in shaping the future of the country and use their voice to promote solutions that will lead to a higher standard of living. The first topic is pensions, because we live in a time when the government debate on the reform of the pension system is expected. “We want to let people use the calculators published at www.smlouvaprocesko.cz and in the media to play with their ideas of what kind of pension they would like,” explains Lenka Zlámalová. The public opinion research agency Ipsos will also collaborate on the research.
Tags: Treaty Czech Republic Citizens influence direction economy
