The dispute over the bridge has divided the representatives of Prague, ANO is considering ending the coalition

Prague - Disputes over the fate of the Libeň Bridge today prematurely ended the negotiations of the Prague City Council and could even lead to the collapse of the coalition. Councilors did not approve the agenda for the meeting due to the item regarding the demolition of the bridge. According to the ANO movement, the Trojkoalition (SZ, KDU-ČSL, and STAN) violated the coalition agreement when two of its members did not support the agenda. ANO wants to discuss the termination of the coalition agreement on Friday. The Trojkoalition opposed moving the agenda item concerning the Libeň Bridge to an earlier time, as it believed this would prevent the public from being able to express its opinion. According to representatives of the Trojkoalition, it was ANO that violated the coalition agreement.

The Prague coalition, which also includes ČSSD alongside ANO and the Trojkoalition, has recently been under criticism due to transportation complications in the city, especially shortly before the autumn municipal elections. These complications were exacerbated by the unexpected closure of the Libeň Bridge for several weeks in January.

Today, councilors were supposed to discuss a proposal to demolish the Libeň Bridge and build a new one, which was approved by the councilors. However, this step only received support from ANO and ČSSD within the coalition; the Trojkoalition opposed it. After several hours of disputes over the fate of the bridge, the councilors did not approve even the meeting agenda. Mayor Adriana Krnáčová (ANO) subsequently ended the meeting.

The coalition representatives originally wanted to schedule the item regarding the bridge for late this afternoon. However, upon the suggestion of opposition councilor Ondřej Martan (ODS), it was eventually moved to the beginning of the agenda. This did not sit well with the Trojkoalition, particularly with councilor and mayor of Prague 7 Jan Čižinský (KDU-ČSL/Trojkoalition). In the end, councilors did not approve the agenda, and the date for the next council meeting will be decided by the mayor.

Against the proposed agenda, Čižinský voted, and councilor Matěj Stropnický (SZ/Trojkoalition) abstained from voting. "By not approving the agenda, the coalition agreement was violated and further proposals were blocked. If his (Čižinský's) concern was truly the well-being of the citizens and not a campaign, we would have found a political solution for the Libeň Bridge, but Mr. Čižinský has not approached me or anyone else in the past few months. I find it scandalous that two coalition members voted against the agenda,” said Krnáčová. According to her, Čižinský also abused his position as a councilor, who can join the discussion at any time.

Čižinský disagrees with ANO's claims. "I defended the right of people to express themselves about what interests them. It is not possible to treat people like a herd,” he told ČTK. According to him, the council clubs of all parties agreed on Wednesday that councilors would discuss the bridge topic only in the late afternoon, and ANO violated this agreement. Furthermore, the item was not even proposed as the first on the agenda in the program suggested by the coalition council. "So they were the first to violate the coalition agreement,” he stated.

The ANO council club wants to decide on the possible termination of the coalition agreement at an extraordinary meeting on Friday. According to the chairman of the Trojkoalition club and the chairman of the Greens, Petr Štěpánek, ANO is unnecessarily escalating the situation. "Because they violated the coalition agreement when they moved, using opposition votes, the item (about the Libeň Bridge) to the beginning of the meeting, so that the public could not participate,” he told ČTK. He recalled that neither Hana Nováková from ČSSD nor Jaroslav Štěpánek from ANO voted for the agenda.

The Libeň Bridge, built in 1928, is in poor condition. The city administration justified the proposal to demolish the bridge by stating that constructing a new one would be cheaper and faster than repairing it. The Trojkoalition, Prague 7, and civic associations oppose the demolition. Critics argue that the bridge, which has cubist elements, holds historical value, and according to Čižinský, there is no alternative transportation included in the project for the new bridge. The advisory council of the Prague Institute of Planning and Development (IPR) also does not recommend that the city demolish the Libeň Bridge. Instead, according to the council, the city should urgently prepare the construction of a new bridge between Holešovice and Karlín.