Aktuálně.cz: The future of the library will not be decided today either

Prague - The speculation about whether or not a new building of the National Library (NK) will be constructed in Prague's Letná according to Jan Kaplický's design is unlikely to end on Wednesday. The working group, consisting of representatives from the state, the city, and the library, was originally scheduled to announce the decision it had reached on this day; however, according to the news server Aktuálně.cz, this will not happen. Czech Television also reported on the postponement of the group's decision in its coverage.
    "The working group that was to announce the conclusions of its work will wait for the decision of the antimonopoly office," the server stated today, citing a document it has access to. According to Aktuálně.cz, the team of experts will officially announce only this information on Wednesday.
    Lawyers in the team have not reached a consensus even after three months of discussions and have split into two groups; one points out potential risks, while the other claims that no legal risks exist. However, according to the cited document, conservationists and architects have no objections to Kaplický’s octopus design.
    Due to the vague opinion of the lawyers, last week the first deputy minister of culture, František Mikeš, who is one of the team members, submitted a prompt to the antimonopoly office. The office had previously dealt with complaints from architects but had twice rejected their motions, stating that it did not have the authority to evaluate the competition for the library.
    Mikeš based his actions on the conclusions of legal experts who disagreed on whether Kaplický's blob construction for the NK, and thus for the state, could pose a risk. In the event that the state invests large sums of money in the library's construction, "there must be no doubt that could jeopardize this multi-billion investment in the future," Aktuálně.cz quotes from the document addressed to the antimonopoly office.
    Chairman of the Office for the Protection of Competition Martin Pecina confirmed to Czech Television that the ministry had approached his office. "The situation is abnormal for us in that we have been asked by the Ministry of Culture to issue a binding opinion as there are new facts in the form of some assessments," he stated.
    Therefore, the National Library team will wait for the results of the investigation by the antimonopoly office, the results of which it intends to respect. In the media over the past days, several conflicting opinions about the outcome of the discussions have emerged, always referencing sources close to the team or the architect.
    According to information from ČTK, the outcome is expected to be at least partially favorable for the library, which, according to its representatives, urgently needs new spaces. The solution is reportedly to take Kaplický's work into account. However, whether the library will be built in Letná or elsewhere or whether the original design will undergo changes, which the architect has acknowledged, remains unclear.