Dear friends,

The SPD considers the holding of the Sudeten German Landsmannschaft assembly in Brno to be an unacceptable provocation supported by certain domestic collaborators. We welcome the resolution passed by the Chamber of Deputies, initiated by the SPD, which condemned the holding of the assembly in the Czech Republic. The audacious statements by Bernd Posselt, which question the sovereignty and democracy of the Czech Republic, recall the rhetoric of Sudeten German Nazis from the period of 1938 to 1945. Thanks to our participation, we managed to secure financial support for women before childbirth. We are planning to increase parental benefits, reinstate kindergarten fees, and implement measures to increase the affordability of housing for young families and families with children. We have serious reservations about the acceleration zone project. We insist that any construction of wind turbines must be subject to the consent of representative bodies and the majority of residents of all affected municipalities.

>1. The SPD considers the holding of the Sudeten German Landsmannschaft assembly in Brno to be an unacceptable provocation supported by certain domestic collaborators. We welcome the resolution passed by the Chamber of Deputies, initiated by the SPD, which condemned the holding of the assembly in the Czech Republic.

The SPD fundamentally rejects the holding of the 76th assembly of the Sudeten German Landsmannschaft in Brno. Last week, the Chamber of Deputies also approved a resolution initiated by the SPD, which strongly protests against this event and condemns expressions of historical revisionism, the relativization of Nazi crimes, and the questioning of the post-war legal and property order of the Czech Republic. The SPD considers the holding of this assembly to be an unacceptable provocation supported by certain domestic collaborators. The Sudeten German Landsmannschaft is an organization with Nazi roots, and its members participated in the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. We reject any attempts to question the Beneš decrees and the results of World War II. We also find it alarming that members of opposition parties did not participate in the final debate and vote on the resolution, thereby demonstrating a lack of interest in protecting Czech national interests. The SPD will continue to consistently defend Czech statehood, historical truth, and the legacy of the fight against Nazi occupation.

>2. The audacious statements by Bernd Posselt, which question the sovereignty and democracy of the Czech Republic, recall the rhetoric of Sudeten German Nazis from the period of 1938 to 1945.

The SPD strongly protests against the outrageous and audacious statements by the leader and spokesperson of the Sudeten German Landsmannschaft, Bernd Posselt, who publicly described the vote by the sovereign Czech Chamber of Deputies on a resolution regarding the 76th assembly of the so-called "Sudeten Germans" in Brno as a "farce" and a "caricature of parliamentarism." We also consider his statements to the newspaper "Deník N" last week, in which he claimed that some Czech political parties (and therefore their members - Czech citizens) do not belong in today's Europe, to be completely unacceptable. These unprecedented and offensive statements strikingly recall the rhetoric of Sudeten German Nazis from the period of 1938 to 1945. We consider this to be an unacceptable interference by a politician from a foreign country in the internal affairs of the Czech Republic, and also a dangerous threat. We also consider it very unfortunate that some German and Bavarian government officials participated in this assembly, which was held for the first time in the Czech Republic. All of this is damaging to the previously good Czech-German neighborly relations.

>3. Thanks to our participation, we managed to secure financial support for women before childbirth. We are planning to increase parental benefits, reinstate kindergarten fees, and implement measures to increase the affordability of housing for young families and families with children.

Last week, the Chamber of Deputies, including lawmakers elected from the SPD party, approved a new type of parental benefit, called the "pre-parental allowance." Starting January 1, 2027, the state will provide this benefit to pregnant women two calendar months before their expected due date, at a rate of 15,000 Czech crowns per month. This fulfills one of the points in our pre-election program to support birth rates and working families. Further similar measures will follow.

In the near future, the government will also propose increasing the parental benefit from 350,000 to 400,000 crowns, or propose reinstating what is known as the "school fee," a significant pro-family tax break that was abolished by the previous Fiala government. We are also preparing extensive measures to increase the availability of housing for young families and families with children. Especially during a period of rapidly declining birth rates, the family remains our top priority.

>4. We have serious reservations about the "acceleration zone" project. We insist that any construction of wind turbines must be conditional upon the approval of local government bodies and the majority of residents in all affected municipalities.

On May 15th, a public discussion was held in Prague regarding the proposed definition of areas for the accelerated development of renewable energy sources in the Czech Republic. The current proposal for these so-called "acceleration zones" includes 94 locations throughout the Czech Republic where the construction of wind and solar power plants may be possible through a simplified permitting process. The SPD party is very critical of this entire project, which the previous Fiala government committed us to within the European Union as part of negotiations on the conditions for receiving EU subsidies. As an active part of the new government, we have achieved a significant reduction in the area of the acceleration zones, and we are continuing to work on significantly tightening the rules for approving the construction of wind turbines in particular. We insist that any construction of wind turbines must be conditional upon the approval of local government bodies and the majority of residents in all affected municipalities. At the same time, we demand that the relevant laws define a minimum distance between these facilities and residential areas to prevent any negative impacts of their operation on human health.

(signed) The SPD Presidency / spd.cz / gnews.cz