A rush of MEPs to the House? Turk’s substitute Šlachta does not want to go to Brussels

“I am thinking about whether I would be more valid in Czech politics. For now, I’m considering it, I don’t want to rule it out,” Turek said in a recent interview for Seznam przyva. The question could be resolved as early as December 7, when the Motoristé se party, for which he ran for the European Parliament in June, holds its first congress and will announce its future direction and plans.

Konečná, whose communists will run for the Stačilo! movement, which was registered with the Ministry of the Interior by Daniel Sterzik, assistant to MEP Ondřej Dostála, is also ready to enter the parliamentary elections. “I am annoyed by what is happening in our country, and if I really want to influence it, I have to do it from the Czech Republic,” Konečná told Czech Radio.

The trio of possible departures from the European Parliament is completed by Bžoch, who figures in ANO as the shadow foreign minister. The post of MEP is incompatible with the position of minister according to the European Act on the election of EP members, in the event that ANO formed the next government, Bžoch would have to think about his next steps.

ANO vice-chairman Karel Havlíček told Novinkám that Bžoch still remains on the list of candidates for possible head of diplomacy, although his work is currently divided among his colleagues: Havlíček deals with ambassadors, ANO head Andrej Babiš is in charge of the European faction Patriots and vice-chairman Radek Vondráček countrymen abroad. “And we have a number of personalities applying for the service who would do well in this position, but I don’t want to name them. Everything is open,” Havlíček told Novinkám.

The possible departure of MEPs means the arrival of their replacements. The Motorists, who ran in a coalition with the Oath, have a complicated situation. The replacement for Turk is the head of the Oath, Robert Šlachta, who was elected to the Senate at the end of September and does not want to get involved in European politics.

“I am now doing everything to give up the order on the list of candidates. It is already being administered,” he told Novinkám. Another substitute on the tape, former social-democratic culture minister Antonín Staněk, would thus get into the European Parliament.

South Bohemian representative Jana Turoňová should sit in the European Parliament behind Konečná, according to the election results, and former diplomat Jaroslav Knot would eventually replace Bžoch.

MEPs can run for the House of Representatives. After being elected, they will not be able to choose their position, they will have the mandate of domestic deputies and those in the European Parliament will have to give up. “In general, the new candidacy trumps the old one. The expression of will is aimed at obtaining a new role,” constitutional lawyer Ondřej Preuss told Novinkám.

However, he should get the option of selection in the event of Turk’s departure from Šlacht. “If he gives up his replacement in advance, it would be inappropriate for Turk’s departure to end his mandate in the Senate. In addition, he ran for the Senate only after the elections to the European Parliament,” noted Preuss.

At the same time, the MEPs will certainly suffer financially by leaving for the Czech parliament. The monthly salary of a European member of parliament is over ten thousand euros, i.e. about 259 thousand crowns gross, while the basic salary of a Czech member of parliament will be 109 thousand crowns after the planned valuation.

Also, the compensation of MEPs is significantly higher than that of domestic legislators. MEPs receive over 4.9 thousand euros, i.e. about 123 thousand crowns, as an allowance for general expenses, and every day they sign the attendance sheet they receive 350 euros, i.e. almost 9 thousand crowns, as a daily allowance for their stay. The European Parliament also pays its members’ travel expenses. Czech MPs have tens of thousands of crowns in compensation.