The state violated agreements regarding the support of industrial zones

Prague - The Ministry of Industry and Trade and the government agency CzechInvest have violated the Declaration of Understanding, which they signed with non-governmental organizations two years ago regarding the construction of the Hyundai car factory, according to the Environmental Law Service (EPS). In the agreement, the authorities committed to prefer the regeneration of former industrial sites over the construction of greenfield industrial zones. According to Minister of Industry and Trade Martin Říman, support for the use of abandoned properties, so-called brownfields, could not be announced because it has not yet been approved by the European Commission.
    EPS lawyer Pavel Franc said today to ČTK that, according to the conditions of the new grant program Real Estate, applicants for financial support for greenfield industrial zones do not have to prove that they cannot prepare an industrial zone on a brownfield. "For this reason, a significantly larger number of greenfield projects can be financially supported than would be the case if the minister (of Industry and Trade Martin) Říman respected the commitments arising from the Declaration of Understanding," Franc pointed out.
    EPS lawyers have already informed the Ministry of Industry and Trade and CzechInvest about the breach of contract and called on the authorities to bring the text from the Real Estate program and the selection criteria into line with the Declaration of Understanding. EPS lawyer Jiří Nezhyba did not want to comment today on what steps EPS would take if the Ministry of Industry and Trade and CzechInvest did not heed EPS's objections and kept the conditions of the Real Estate program in their current form.
    Říman claims that support for the regeneration of brownfields has not yet been notified to the European Commission, so the ministry cannot announce it. "I came to the ministry with the intention of supporting brownfields in the next programming period. I am starting to regret signing that agreement (the Declaration of Understanding). What they (EPS) are creating is an attempt to gain visibility and raise their value in future cases," Říman told journalists today.
    The Declaration was signed two years ago in the autumn by the Moravian-Silesian Region, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the CzechInvest agency, and Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Czech on one side, and non-governmental organizations - the Environmental Law Service, Beskydčan, Land for Life, and Children of the Earth - on the other side. Environmentalists called the agreement groundbreaking, as it is, according to them, the first time that state institutions have respected non-governmental organizations.
    The non-governmental organizations pledged to withdraw appeals submitted in the permitting process as well as the lawsuit against the EIA opinion regarding the construction of the Hyundai factory in Nošovice, would not file further lawsuits or appeals, and would address their concerns directly with the investor and the region. The state and the Moravian-Silesian Region committed to halt the preparation of further strategic industrial zones in the region of Dolní Lutyně and Šilheřovice and focus on the restoration of areas of former industrial sites, so-called brownfields.
    "The era of government support for the creation of new greenfield industrial zones, which caused irreversible devastation of quality agricultural land and the landscape, should finally come to an end. Therefore, the regeneration of brownfields, of which the Czech Republic has more than enough, should receive significant priority," noted Nezhyba.
    A brownfield is a property or object that is not being effectively utilized, is neglected, and in many cases contaminated. The property cannot be used without revitalization, which often entails costs of tens to hundreds of millions of crowns. The state has financially supported the regeneration of these properties in recent years. For the years 2007 to 2013, the Czech Republic has approximately 14 billion crowns available in European Union funds for projects involving business real estate and the remediation of old ecological burdens.