Architects want the minister to cancel the competition for the NK again

Prague - A group of Czech and foreign architects is once again demanding that the Minister of Culture, Václav Jehlička (KDU-ČSL), cancel the competition for the new building of the National Library (NK). They had demanded this from him last October when disputes began over the project and even before the issue with the land for the construction arose. However, Jehlička does not want to cancel the competition and states that it must be done by its initiator, namely, the library.
    However, the chair of the Office for the Protection of Competition (ÚOHS), Martin Pecina, is now speculating that the competition should be canceled, referencing findings from the European Commission.
    The architects represented by Martin Roubík wrote to the minister last October. They have now published the minister's response from June, in which Jehlička writes that even after a thorough analysis, he found no reason to recommend to the Director of the National Library of the Czech Republic to cancel the competition. In July, however, Jehlička stated that the construction project according to Jan Kaplický's design in Letná is unrealistic.
    In recent days, the ÚOHS also received a response from the European Commission to its inquiry about the way the competition was announced. Pecina commented on the letter, though he did not disclose its contents; he wrote a statement to the ministry. According to spokeswoman Jana Cieslara, the ministry is currently analyzing his text, and it is unclear whether the minister will change his stance on canceling the competition in light of new facts.
    Pecina now states that according to the EC, the library could not apply for an exemption from the public procurement law due to the competition for its new building. Therefore, NK should not have announced an architectural competition for the design, but should have awarded a public contract. Previously, the office had recognized the exemption that NK tried to apply, but according to the EC, it should not have done so.
    In February, the first Deputy Minister of Culture, František Mikeš (ODS), approached the ÚOHS after architects, some of whom are also signatories of open letters to the minister, requested an assessment of the competition from the perspective of its legitimacy. However, at that time, neither the ÚOHS nor the EC was concerned about the course of the competition either then or now.
    However, the ÚOHS will likely examine the legitimacy of the competition. "We need to assess the competition in the Czech Republic, our office will do it, and our decision is subject to judicial review," Pecina said on Tuesday.
    Critics among the architects are concerned that since the announcement of the competition results last March, the winner violated the requirement of the organizer to place library collections above ground, or rather, that the conditions of the competition were adjusted during the process in favor of the winning design. The jury accepted the winning proposal because they concluded that its architectural value was more important than adherence to the rules of the design competition, Pecina stated.
    According to the critics of the competition, the jury's process harmed competition teams from around the world. If the director of NK does not want to cancel the competition, Roubík believes the minister should do so as the founder of NK. Jehlička himself labelled the new building project as unprepared and as "a certain adventure" in July.
    According to Jehlička, there are neither funds nor land for the construction of the library. However, at least 1.9 billion crowns are still guaranteed by previous government resolutions; the land in Letná was promised to be sold to the Prague council two years ago. It continues to be stated that the library would cost more than two billion - and there is no additional money in the budget. However, money would be sought only in the budgets of several coming years. Supporters of the library point out that when it is really necessary and there is no lack of political will, the state will find the money. They cite, for example, the twenty billion temporary lease of fighter jets or several lost arbitrations.

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Mgr. Václav Jehlička
Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic
Maltézské náměstí 1
PRAGUE 1
118 11

Dear Minister,

Thank you for your response from June this year regarding the urgency of the Open Letter from Architects. I would also like to inform you that, as a representative of 23 foreign and Czech architects/signatories, I am not satisfied with your response.

You state that you cannot comply with the request of the group of architects to annul the results because "only the person who announced such a competition can cancel it" and "even after thorough analysis of the matter... I found no clear reason to recommend it to the Director of the National Library of the Czech Republic."

The unauthorized actions of the jury (particularly the ignoring of the obligation to exclude all projects that do not meet the competition conditions and the recommendation by the Director of the National Library to remove the binding condition of placing book collections above ground) have harmed hundreds of competition teams from around the world who have invested a significant amount of qualified work and financial resources into the competition in good faith. Although the Ministry of Culture is the founder of the National Library and the director is personally responsible for its activities, you are shirking responsibility for events in your ministry, for the expenditure of public finances, and, last but not least, for the good name of the Czech Republic abroad. You yourself recently described the completed competition as "an unprepared project and a certain adventure."

Moreover, the Ministry of Culture has stated that it is prepared to pay the team whose victory was evidently facilitated only by the jury's actions contrary to the competition rules, the amount corresponding to the first prize (160,000 € — about 4 million CZK) as compensation for the non-realization of the project. Yet, it appears that you do not plan to compensate other competition teams damaged by the unlawful actions of the organizer in any way.

If the competition was irregular and the organizer (who in this case is also the one who caused the irregularity) shows no desire to take responsibility and cancel the competition along with all its consequences, it is evident that the initiator should first recommend it and subsequently, if necessary, order it. In this case, the Ministry of Culture, which you are currently leading, Mr. Minister.

Your stance on the Open Letter from the Architects indicates that you do not want to set things right within your authority and are forcing the competing teams to pursue their rights through costly and lengthy legal proceedings with domestic or European institutions.

You speak of thorough analysis of the matter, yet you completely ignore concrete documents proving the irregularity of the competition; you have not commented on them either.

I was also disappointed that you did not respond to my request for a meeting where we could discuss the issue. I assume that you are 'fully overwhelmed with other work in the ministry' (however, you could have used this cliché instead of me).

Sincerely,
Martin Roubík