Ministry: funding for the library depends on the fulfillment of conditions

Prague - The Ministry of Culture says that the drawing of funds for the construction of a new building for the National Library (NK), which it claims in the draft state budget for the next year, depends on the fulfillment of conditions set by the investor. The investor is the library, which is a contributory organization of the ministry. If the situation regarding the land is not resolved and preparations for construction cannot begin, it will not be possible to draw funds from the budget, said ministry spokesperson Marcela Žižková to ČTK.
The library, however, claims that the city is to blame for the problems with the land, which has been involved since the beginning of all changes and whose development department even initiated them. Mayor Pavel Bém (ODS) now states that the library has called for a competition for other plots of land than those provided by the city.
A shift in the debate about the proposal by architect Jan Kaplický and the designated plot for construction should come from a meeting between NK director Vlastimil Ježek and Bém, which is expected to take place probably on Monday.
While Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek stated a few days ago that the construction of a new NK building is not among the government's priorities and unlike the reconstruction of the National Museum and the main seat of NK Klementinum, the state does not have funds for it, the draft budget for next year includes resources for the construction. The Support for the Care of the National Cultural Treasure program includes expenses for the repair of Klementinum as well as funds for the new construction - next year it amounts to 219 million crowns.
According to the Ministry of Culture, however, if the conditions for construction preparations are not met, the funds may be used for other purposes within the ministry. Such a practice is common in all ministries - they prefer to allocate items in the full amount proposed by the Ministry of Finance, and later use the funds differently.
The National Cultural Treasure was defined by former minister Vítězslav Jandák and included, besides NK, the National Museum, the National Film Archive, and the Museum of Applied Arts and National Technical Museum.
The Care for the Treasure program was approved by the government last June with the stipulation that it should receive 10.3 billion crowns by 2014. Last year and this year, it is to be financed by resources from the abolished National Property Fund (FNM), from 2008 to 2011 by FNM and the state budget, and in the last three years only by the state.
For NK, in the context of care for the treasure, the draft budget for the next year allocates 219 million for the new construction, 396 million for 2009, and 462 million for 2010. "However, these are not funds obtained from the abolished FNM, which, according to the law, will be used for the reconstruction and revitalization of Klementinum," the library stated today.
This year, NK used 25 million crowns from the program of the Ministry of Culture for an architectural competition. According to last year's government resolution, it was supposed to use 55 million crowns for the project documentation of the new building. "Due to prolonged negotiations with the magistrate regarding the lands, the National Library has not been able to draw this year's funds intended for project work," said library spokesperson Kateřina Nováková. According to her, the library has also twice transferred funds intended for the purchase of land into a reserve fund.
On Thursday, the mayor met for the first time since it became clear that the majority of Prague councilors from ODS, including himself, do not want the construction in Letná, with the author of the project. They first had a private debate lasting about three hours, after which they discussed on television. Although the program did not bring anything new and took place late at night, it attracted 931,000 viewers.