Pátek 29. března 2024, svátek má Taťána
130 let

Lidovky.cz

Lesy ČR settles land dispute with Prince Schwarzenberg

  10:30

If the courts approve the conditions of the settlement, Lesy ČR will give Karel Schwarzenberg forest land worth over Kč 13 million

foto: © ČTK, ČESKÁ POZICE/Richard CortésČeská pozice

Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg (TOP 09) — a blue-blooded prince whose full name is Karl Johannes Nepomuk Joseph Norbert Friedrich Antonius Wratislaw Menas — has reached a settlement with the state-owned forestry firm Lesy ČR over damages related to the seizure by the former Communist government of lands that has been in his family for generations. If the District Court of Hradec Králové sanctions the agreement, some 244 hectares of woodland now in state hands will be awarded to the Orlík branch of the House of Schwarzenberg.

The case had been before the courts since 2003, first at the district level and later in the High Court, with the judges always deciding in favor of the Czech state. However, several years ago the Constitutional Court (ÚS) ago ruled on the side of the aristocratic Franconian-Bohemian family. The case stemmed around claims for damages before restitution. According to Lesy ČR, Schwarzenberg should be compensated for the cost of repairing roads on his restituted land, but the prince wasn’t satisfied with the offer and appealed to the ÚS, where he found a sympathetic ear.

The Constitutional Court judges found Lesy ČR’s proposal to be insufficient because the forest roads are part and parcel of the land that the state firm had already returned to Schwarzenberg. “In this case, in fact his claim was reimbursed in the form of personal property,” was one of the reasons given by Judge Vojen Güttler. According to the ÚS, Schwarzenberg’s right to a fair trial was damaged. The lower courts had overlooked the fact that — in principle — this was a continuation of a restitution case in which the emphasis was to make amends for damage to the property. So the ÚS annulled the lower courts’ rulings and returned the case to the District Court of Hradec Králové.

Schwarzenberg and the state firm’s management, however, have since reached an agreement out of court. “The consent decree is for Lesy ČR the most economical solution, and it will save the firm significant costs for court proceedings with an evidently negative result for Lesy ČR in accordance with the findings of the Constitutional Court,” company spokesman Zbyněk Boublík said.

Land transfers

Lesy ČR requested preliminary approval from the Ministry of Agriculture for its proposal to transfer choice state woodlands to Schwarzenberg. According to documents that Czech Position has in its possession, the change in ownership would concern approximately 244 hectares of forest land in the municipalities of Zbonín, Varvažov, Orlík nad Vltavou, Kostelec nad Vltavou, Velká u Milevska, Jetětice, Osek, Zahořany, Kovářov, Podolí, Chrást u Zahořan, Opatovice u Zbýšova, Zbýšov and Sýkořice. The value of the land has been estimated at Kč 13.2 million.

In its request to the Ministry of Agriculture, Lesy ČR claims it is not in interests of the state or the general public to hold on to the woodland in question. “The lots in question do not connect to lots in the ownership of the Czech Republic that the state firm Lesy ČR has the rights to manage, and the transfer of the land is in harmony with the consolidation program.”

For the transaction to be realized, it is still necessary that the consent decree, or conciliatory agreement, be approved by the District Court of Hradec Králové. “According to available information, this has yet to be approved,” Agriculture Ministry spokesperson Tereza Magdalena Dvořáčková said. Czech Position has requested information from the court but has yet to receive a response.

The 244 hectares of land that could be given to Schwarzenberg were selected by the Regional Office of Lesy ČR in České Budějovice in South Bohemia together with forest management. “In this case and in similar cases the criterion of paramount importance is the value of the forest. This means that the woodlands and vegetation growing there, which must match what was agreed within a court-authorized consent decree between both parties to the dispute,” Dvořáčková said.

Condition of the settlement is that both parties agree not only on the value of the lots but also on which forest lands in the framework of the conciliatory settlement will be taken over. “In this case, such an agreement has in fact been reached,” she said.

FOR KIDS by měl být zážitkem pro celou rodinu, říká Monika
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Monika Pavlíčková (35 let) je maminkou dvou dcer, sedmileté Terezy a čtyřleté Laury, a zároveň také manažerkou obchodního týmu společnosti ABF,...