Brno is moving towards an agreement with Amazon, which has not said whether it wants to continue

Brno - The project of the Amazon warehouse in Brno is entering a schizophrenic situation. While according to the regional head of the developer CTP Invest, Tomáš Budař, negotiations with the city are progressing towards an agreement, the American online retail company Amazon still remains silent about the next steps, Budař told ČTK today. This comes a week after the Brno council rejected the city's contract with CTP and the Administration of Roads and Highways regarding the construction of the highway exit. According to the media, Amazon is now trying to attract the Slovak government.
    CTP is intensively negotiating with the city leadership, meaning representatives from the coalition parties ČSSD and ODS. The developer has already agreed to purchase the land for the exit construction, which is now acceptable for ODS as well. They wanted CTP to clearly commit to participating in the construction of the exit to the Černovice industrial zone. The ODS wants a guarantee that residents of the adjacent city sections will have a clear perspective of when they will be rid of the excessive traffic that would increase with the arrival of Amazon.
    "I believe we are progressing towards an agreement with the city. What is even more concerning is that we still lack Amazon's statement on what they plan to do next. There is still a risk that they might pull out of the Brno project," said Budař.
    Amazon had previously stated that it could build a distribution center in Slovakia, Austria, or possibly in Ostrava. "We have taken the first steps to initiate talks with this investor. It is now important for the investor's expectations and the state's possibilities to align as closely as possible," cited the Slovak newspaper Pravda quoting spokesperson for the Ministry of Economy, Stanislav Jurikovič. The spokesperson mentioned that the topics of discussion could include state incentives or the location for the warehouse. Earlier discussions had mentioned the Eurovalley park near Bratislava.
    The Americans wanted to serve the pre-Christmas market from Brno, which is why they were pressing for a quick decision. At last week's council meeting, all coalition ČSSD members voted in favor, while ODS voted against, with some members abstaining. Mayor Roman Onderka (ČSSD) would like to bring Amazon to the city, primarily because the company could invest around 100 million euros (over 27 billion CZK) and create at least 1500 jobs.