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Watching curling matches paralyzed the work of the House.

Lubomír Zaorálek, the chairman of the Chamber of Deputies, is angry: "Curling will destroy us, today we almost didn't vote the state budget because of the curling fans." What actually happened? "Some MPs are watching live broadcasts of the Junior National Curling Championships during the session of the Chamber of Deputies and are not paying attention to the discussion of laws," says Petr Pleva, a deputy from the ODS, critically of his colleagues. The vote on the form of the state budget was obviously accompanied by considerable inattention on the part of the legislators, which resulted in the forced interruption of the lower house session. "Why can't we watch the curling? The budget can wait and it won't increase the deficit." Svatomír Recman, deputy chairman of the budget committee, commented indignantly. He was responding to a request by MP Kocourek, who intended to inform the Chamber of Deputies about the outcome of the match between Savona 3 and Kolibris 4 only after the negotiations on the parameters of the state budget were over. Members' interest in the young curlers is pleasing, but our committee anticipated this development. It's logical."

Junior committee head David Shik notes with a smile.

 

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"Leave the curling alone already.", Zaorálek pleads with his fellow MPs.

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author AL 2004