Opening - President of the Senate of the Czech Republic, Mr Milan Štěch
Seminar - 20th Anniversary of the SAO, Senate of the Parliament of the CR, 25.7.2013
Dear Mr President, honoured guests, ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to be able to welcome you here, to the seat of the Senate in Wallenstein Palace, to this beautiful historical hall, and I believe that your conference, or, more precisely, "festive expert seminar", will find an appropriate and pleasant backdrop in these premises.
In human terms, twenty years is a one generation, a twenty year-old who is not completely mature, but entering life with determination. I believe that the Supreme Audit Office of the Czech Republic, which is celebrating the 20th anniversary of its establishment, is, unlike a young twenty-year-old, a mature, experienced professional institution, with a good body of work backing it up.
Since the beginning of this year, we have commemorated a number of anniversaries. First and foremost, the division of our former federative republic and the creation of two nations - we commemorate this anniversary with Slovak leadership as well, specifically with Mr Paška, Speaker of the National Council of the Slovak Republic. We also had an event here celebrating twenty years of the Constitution, and tying onto this event was an event held in Brno celebrating twenty years of the Constitutional Court. All these constitutional and other important institutions, which are required by the state to function, are remembering and looking back at their successes. They are also thinking about how they should proceed going forward. My role here is reflected in the first part of the phrase "festive expert seminar"; in other words, I am here to provide a festive welcome. Nevertheless, I would like to comment on your role, the role of the Supreme Audit Office, or, more precisely, on your results and your work.
We in the Senate regularly receive your reports and very rarely are there any reservations to the work done by the Supreme Audit Office. But there are always comments, and fundamental ones, on how these results are dealt with. I don´t want to go too much into detail about this here - there are others more competent and it is chiefly a matter for the executive. But I am certain that if appropriate and professional attention was paid to the findings of the Supreme Audit Office, in the same way that the Supreme Audit Office pays attention to its work, then the mood in our country would be much better and there would be greater trust in our political system. I also think that we would not be in the state that we find ourselves today, meaning a drawn out constitutional or, more precisely, government crisis.
I do not think I need to go into details here, because you are better aware of the situation, but I think the main reason why people have lost faith in politics - namely executive politics - is that people are certain that public resources are being poorly managed. And your reports, the reports of the SAO, call attention to this; however, the findings in these audit reports are not reflected in policies, are not reflected adequately, and that is what I think is the main reason for the current crisis.
I would like to wish you a truly festive gathering and one where you also look back at your beginnings and the work you have done together. Your experiences vary. Some have left us. I would like to bring up the memory of Mr Voleník, who I think created a good foundation for the audit system in the Czech Republic. And it will also be a working meeting - you will think about and share experiences with foreign partners and discuss what form audits will take in coming years. And so I wish that these premises will provide you with a good backdrop for this, so that you can make a proper assessment of those twenty years, and so that you, to a certain extent, unite and coordinate the work for the next period, because this is what our country needs. The problems that we are experiencing are proof of this.
Once again I welcome you and wish you a fruitful day and lots of success. Thank you for your work.