The Minister of Culture and the director of the National Library have apparently found a solution to the library's problems

Prague - The director of the National Library (NK) Vlastimil Ježek today proposed to the Minister of Culture Václav Jehlička (KDU-ČSL) how to address the future of his institution. The specific form of the proposal is being kept secret by both the library and the ministry, but they intend to present it to the public in a few days. Due to spatial constraints, the library planned to build a new building - however, negotiations have been at a standstill for several months.
    "The solution is based on the real economic situation and the financial resources available to the Ministry of Culture at the moment," said Jan Cieslar, spokesperson for the minister, to ČTK. He did not want to comment on whether this solution means building a new structure according to Jan Kaplický's proposal or any other variant. The proposal from Director Ježek is still to be finalized by people from the ministry and the library.
    Although Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek (ODS) and Minister Jehlička have repeatedly stated in the past that the budget of the Ministry of Culture does not have enough funds for a new building, according to information obtained by ČTK after the meeting, a new building is still on the table.
    Vice Prime Minister Jiří Čunek (KDU-ČSL) today stated that he wants to advocate for the government to find the missing funds for the construction in the budget. So far, the state has planned an amount of 1.9 billion crowns, while according to Čunek, Kaplický's project would cost about three billion, and he would like to secure the missing billion as part of cabinet negotiations on the budget.
    According to him, the necessary funds are not a matter of next year, but rather in two to three years when the new building could start to be built. However, estimates for the construction costs range more between four to five billion crowns.
    Today, Ježek reiterated that, among the possible options for addressing the library's spatial situation, building a new structure remains his priority. He also stands by the fact that the competition for its design was legitimate. After the meeting at the ministry, he also met with the author of the winning proposal, Kaplický, to convey the results of the discussions.
    According to the spokesperson for the Ministry of Culture, Ježek presented a proposal "for the quality storage and subsequent use of the National Library's modern collections by the public" during a two-hour working meeting. The experts from the ministry and the library will finalize the proposed solution within a few days and then present it at a press conference. "Before that, neither the National Library nor the Ministry of Culture will present or comment on the proposed solution," the spokesperson stated.
    Ježek had previously mentioned the expansion of the Hostivař depositary as an alternative option - books would then continuously be transported to Klementinum. However, he labeled this option as the worst variant, which is expensive, non-ecological, and not considerate of the book collection.
    Negotiations regarding the new NK building seem to be at a standstill; after several months of negotiations involving a team from the National Library consisting of representatives from the city, the state, the competition organizer, and the architect, the anti-monopoly office had to intervene again at the initiative of the first deputy of MK František Mikeš. The head of the office, Martin Pecina, is still having opinions prepared in the field of international law and consulting with experts in Brussels, but he stated that the competition was conducted properly.
    According to Ježek, a barrier to the project assignment is that the National Library has not signed a contract for land sale. At the beginning of May, he urged Mayor Pavel Bém in a letter to sell the land to the library. He referred to a resolution of the Prague council that is over two years old. However, the mayor reiterated that it must be clearly stated whether the architectural competition for the new building was legitimate, and then the Ministry of Culture must decide on the cancellation or continuation of the competition. "In the latter case, then about the allocation of six billion crowns," he added.
    The legitimacy of the competition was confirmed by the International Union of Architects, according to whose rules the competition was held. The Office for the Protection of Economic Competition stated that it is not its role to evaluate this.