Dear friends,

we support the farmers' protests. The Fial government and the EU are destroying Czech agriculture. The European Union has approved the EU Migration Pact, which means mandatory redistribution quotas or mandatory payments of half a million crowns for every one rejected migrant. The Fial government is impoverishing citizens and destroying the Czech economy. This government does not have the trust of the citizens and should end! The proposal by Minister Jurečka of the KDU-ČSL regarding social benefits, unlike the SPD proposal, does not include a way of detecting people who abuse the social system and avoid work for a long time, even though they can work. The Fial government refuses to increase the care allowance for disabled citizens. The SPD, on the other hand, is pushing for an increase in aid for the disabled. We unequivocally reject the adoption of the euro, which means the end of our state's independence.

1. We support the farmers' protests. The Fial government and the EU are destroying Czech agriculture.

The SPD movement considers the demands of Czech farmers and food producers, as well as those of the Association of Independent Trade Unions, who are preparing a civil protest on 19 February, to be completely justified. Farmers are protesting en masse throughout the European Union. The main reasons are the application of the European Union's nonsensical Green Deal project, the increasing import of agricultural commodities from outside the EU and the approval of further treaties allowing these imports, as well as the approved reduction of 'European subsidies' for agriculture in favour of supporting immigration, supporting arms and supporting the regime in Ukraine. In addition, the multinational retail chains refuse to pay higher farmgate prices commensurate with farmers' costs and, on the contrary, maintain or even increase their totally unreasonable trade mark-ups, thereby raising food prices for citizens. For two years, the Fial government has been deaf to our farmers and has not negotiated with them. We have been pointing out for a long time that the government and the KDU-CSL ministers of agriculture are not defending the interests and rights of our farmers and food producers and that, on the contrary, the ruling five-coalition is severely damaging and gradually destroying these key sectors of our national economy. Our agriculture and food sector is being damaged by bureaucracy, dramatically high prices for energy, fertiliser, rent, insurance, water, seeds, labour, etc., as well as by the government's tolerance of imports of poor-quality agricultural commodities and products from Ukraine, where strict EU standards are not observed. Agriculture is a strategic sector that deserves special support and protection from the state. The SPD movement has long defended our farmers and food producers and advocated their protection, for example, in the form of legislative proposals to defend and support our food security and self-sufficiency. However, these proposals have been rejected by the ruling five-party coalition.

2. The European Union has approved the EU Migration Pact, which means mandatory redistribution quotas or mandatory payments of half a million crowns for every one migrant rejected.

Last week, the government of Petr Fiala (ODS) cowardly and alibistically abstained from voting during the crucial negotiations on the EU Migration Pact. In previous negotiations, Interior Minister Vít Rakušan (STAN) even voted in favour! The government has once again betrayed the interests of the majority of our citizens who do not agree with the arrival of illegal migrants to the Czech Republic. Only representatives of Poland, Hungary and Slovakia voted against the EU Migration Pact. However, since matters of migration and asylum policy have been decided by majority vote in the EU institutions since the Lisbon Treaty was approved, the EU Migration Pact was adopted. The final approval of the EU Migration Pact is still to be voted on by the European Parliament, but given that the progressive pro-immigration political parties and factions have so far prevailed there, it will unfortunately be more of a formality. This is the faction of the Socialists, which includes MEP Maxová (ČSSD), the Liberals (where the ANO movement is a member), the Greens (where the Pirates are members) and the People's Party, which includes MEPs from TOP 09, STAN and KDU-ČSL. MEPs elected from the SPD will of course vote against the EU Migration Pact. The EU Migration Pact means, among other things, compulsory redistribution quotas or compulsory payments of half a million crowns for every one migrant rejected. The government of the five-coalition (ODS, KDU-ČSL, TOP 09, the Pirates and STAN) is not defending our national interests, is not acting within the framework of the unity of the V4 countries and has completely betrayed our country and the V4 with this move. Islamisation is already threatening the countries of Western Europe and will now begin to threaten us as well. The SPD movement fundamentally rejects Islamisation, mass immigration and the imposition of immigrants on our country by the European Union. This policy will also be strongly promoted by our elected representatives in the European Parliament. So come to the European Parliament elections on 7 and 8 June and vote for the joint SPD and Tricolour candidate. Thank you!

3. Fial's government is impoverishing citizens and destroying the Czech economy. This government does not have the trust of the citizens and should end!

Retail sales fell by 4.1 % year-on-year last year, according to the Czech Statistical Office. This means that our citizens have reduced their consumption to this extent due to the decline in their real incomes, the most since 2001. This is mainly due to the prolonged high inflation caused by the government of Petro Fiala. Citizens have less and less money in their wallets and, on the other hand, they are forced to pay more and more for food, energy, rent and medicines. Retail sales in the food sector fell even more sharply last year, by 5.3 %. They have fallen steadily for 20 months in a row. More and more citizens are forced to prefer the cheapest food, regardless of its quality. This is a sad balance sheet and at the same time a tragic and tragic calling card for the government of the Fialova Penc coalition, which, according to a recent survey by TNS Kantar for Czech Television, is distrusted by 75 % of citizens. Unfortunately, even the new data on retail sales for January 2024 do not offer hope for a turn for the better. This is also a consequence of the VAT increase on draught beer and soft drinks as part of the so-called government consolidation package. The real income of establishments and entrepreneurs in this sector has therefore fallen by almost 13 % year-on-year, which is already very noticeable, and threatens the disappearance of many more trades and jobs. The incompetence and harmful economic policies of the Fial government are thus clearly and in the long term causing an economic downturn and threatening the social peace of the country. This government does not have the confidence of the citizens and should be brought to an end!

4. Unlike the SPD proposal, the proposal by Minister Jurečka of the KDU-ČSL regarding social benefits does not include a way to detect people who abuse the social system and avoid work for a long time, even though they can work.

Since the beginning of its political activity, the SPD movement has considered ending the abuse of social benefits by inadaptable people to be one of its top priorities. We have submitted two specific and extensive bills in this direction in 2020 and 2021, but the MPs of the parties in the current governing coalition (ODS, KDU-ČSL, TOP 09, Pirates and STAN) have always prevented their approval. We consider the intention of Labour and Social Affairs Minister Marian Jurečka (KDU-ČSL) to try to curb the abuse of social benefits by merging some of them, which was presented last week, to be insufficient and unsystematic. A fair system of social benefits that helps exclusively people whose income from work is insufficient to cover the basic costs of living, or people who can no longer work for objective reasons (such as the elderly or the disabled), will not be built simply by merging some benefits. It is absolutely essential to identify people who abuse the social system, who avoid work for a long time, even though they can work, which is not included in Minister Jurečka's proposal. Moreover, the small difference between social benefits and the minimum wage does not sufficiently motivate their non-working recipients to work. Minister Jurečka can use our draft laws to put an end to the abuse of social benefits by the inadaptable, and we are ready to contribute our substantive arguments and the experience of our experts to the current debate.

5. The Fiala government refuses to increase the care allowance for all disabled citizens. The SPD, on the other hand, is advocating an increase in aid for the disabled.

The decision not to increase the care allowance for disabled citizens in the first stage of dependency was announced last week by Czech Labor Minister Marian Jurečka (KDU-ČSL) as part of the presentation of an amendment to the Social Services Act. The SPD movement fundamentally disagrees with the government's refusal to increase the care allowances for disabled citizens (adults and children) in the first stage of dependency who are dependent on the help of others. The care allowance for these citizens has not been increased for nine years, while the inflation rate during this time has been around the 40 % mark. In the first stage of dependency for adults, this allowance amounts to only 880 crowns per month, which is absolutely insufficient to purchase any necessary social services! The National Council for Persons with Disabilities, which, according to its chairman Václav Krása, does not agree with this government decision, and says that the blind, deaf and some paraplegics will pay the price. MP Lucie Šafránková, on behalf of the SPD, has been fighting on behalf of the SPD for increased financial assistance for severely disabled citizens since the last parliamentary term, but both of our bills for a fair increase in the care allowance for citizens in all four levels of dependency have always been blocked by MPs from the parties of the current governing five-party coalition. We will continue to fight for the rights of the disabled and we will submit our own amendments to the government's amendment to the Social Services Act in the House of Commons, which would lead to a fair increase in the care allowance for all four levels of dependency and which do not discriminate against any group of disabled people. On the contrary, the Socialist Fiala Government discriminates against disabled citizens.

6. We unequivocally reject the adoption of the euro, which means the end of our state's independence.

European Affairs Minister Dvořák (STAN) said last week that he would consider it ideal to negotiate with the European Commission before the 2025 House of Commons elections on the terms of the Czech Republic's entry into the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM II) (the so-called "waiting room for the euro"), which means, among other things, setting an economically disadvantageous fixed exchange rate for the Czech koruna against the euro and other EU member state currencies and prohibiting the devaluation of the exchange rate of the domestic currency against the currencies of other EU member states. Even before that, Minister Dvořák had appointed his euro adoption commissioner without any discussion in the government, which triggered a conciliation procedure and his "commissioner" became just an adviser again. Replacing the Czech koruna with the euro would fundamentally and permanently damage the Czech economy and the standard of living of its citizens; we would lose control over our own monetary, economic and, in essence, budgetary policy, we would have no tools to combat high inflation, and we would be forced to guarantee and possibly pay the debts of the so-called eurozone countries. Our own national currency is one of the fundamental pillars of our statehood and sovereignty. We were not deprived of our own currency even during the German occupation during the Second World War. The SPD insists on the preservation of the Czech koruna as the national currency, including its constitutional anchorage. At the same time, we also support the retention of cash payments. The question of preserving the national currency should clearly be the subject of a popular vote - a national referendum. Come to the European Parliament elections on 7 and 8 June, which will be a referendum on the Fial government, on the euro and on migrants, and vote for the joint SPD and Tricolour candidate. Thank you!

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