Draft budget for 2025.
On December 3 this year, the Chamber of Deputies approved the draft state budget for 2025. It did not need the votes of the former ruling party - the Pirates - to pass it. Criticism accompanied the entire process of discussing the proposal, which is signed by the current head of the Finance Ministry, Zbyněk Staňura. The state treasury is expected to manage next year's revenues of CZK 2.086 billion, while expenditures should amount to CZK 2.327 billion. The most frequently quoted figure is the budget deficit, which is the difference between revenues and expenditures and is minus CZK 241 billion. The budget is awaiting the signature of the President of the Republic, Peter Paul. He has taken time to think about it and estimates that he will need slightly fewer days than the fifteen given to him by law. There have been critical comments from the advisory body of the president's office and the National Budget Council, for example, regarding overestimated revenues from emission allowances, underestimated spending on pensions, and a lack of attention to the salaries of non-teaching staff in education. The Pirates lack funds in the budget to address the housing issue and to fulfil promises regarding funds going to education. Castle will either sign the budget early next week or return it to MPs. The budget proviso can then be reversed by overriding a presidential veto with a hundred and one votes in the House before the end of the calendar year. So far, the coalition is feigning calm, arguing that it has managed to present all the reasons that led the Ministry of Finance to prepare a "professional and responsible" draft state budget. It could be argued that professionalism and accountability in relation to the most important law of the year - the state budget - is quite naturally expected. The President, along with his advisory team, apparently thinks so too and will make his position known in a few days.
photo: Zbyněk Staňura, Minister of Finance