The possibility of speculation in the sale of state land will soon be restricted

Prague - The possibility of speculation in the sale of state agricultural land is likely to become more difficult soon. A new amendment to the law on the conditions for the transfer of agricultural and forest lands from state ownership was approved by the Senate today. The regulation aims to prevent the state from selling land at an unfavorable price. It is now to be signed by President Václav Klaus.
    The amendment addresses situations where a group of agreed speculators submits bids during land sales competitions. According to Minister of Agriculture Petr Gandalovič (ODS), it often happens that the winner of the competition withdraws their bid, followed by others in line, and the state ends up selling the land at a low price.
    From now on, if the interested party with the highest offered price withdraws their bid, their deposit will be forfeited; the state will return the deposit to the other applicants. The forfeited deposit will become income for the Land Fund. The state will then offer the land to the owners of restitution claims. The amendment is set to take effect on the day it is announced in the Collection of Laws.
    According to current law, the Land Fund must offer the land to the next interested party multiple times after the first one withdraws, until the land is sold. Farmers who had been farming the land often lost it due to this procedure.
    However, farmers have been demanding a broader amendment to this law for over a year. According to the Agrarian Chamber of the Czech Republic (AK), legislative changes should facilitate and expedite the sale of state land to farmers who farm it. The AK, along with the Czech-Moravian Union of Agricultural Entrepreneurs, has called on farmers in the Czech Republic to sign the relevant petition.
    Farmers are, for example, demanding that those who farm state land be able to exercise their priority right more significantly when purchasing it and not be restricted by a 500-hectare limit. The successors of farmers who retire should have the option to inherit the advantage of long-term payments for the purchased land. Entrepreneurs are also concerned about the retention of the state's preemptive right even after the land has been paid for. They justify this by stating that they cannot use these lands as collateral for loans from banks.