” “Defending the minorities” “

Confirmation of the Social-Democratic party of Vladimir Spidla (30.2% of the vote) and strong recovery of the former Communists (18.5%): these are the main results of the parliamentary elections held in the Czech Republic on 14 and 15 June. Absenteeism was massive: only 58% of the electorate bothered to vote. Spidla then received from President Vaclav Havel the commission to form the new government. The new premier will have as his main task that of guiding the Czech Republic in the demanding process of meeting the conditions for EU membership. Apart from economic questions, a solution will also have to be found to the problem of the country’s internal minorities. For on 22 May, the foreign affairs commission of the European Parliament formally requested the government of the Czech Republic to eliminate the still existing forms of discrimination against citizens of German and Hungarian origin, as a prior condition for EU membership. The so-called Benes Decrees still remain in force in the country; these are laws adopted by the government of the Czechoslovak Republic in 1945-46 against the Germans of the former Sudetenland and against the Magyars, not only stripping them of their rights but expelling them from the country. We asked for the opinion of Archbishop Jan Graubner of Olomouc, president of the Czech Episcopal Conference. What were the reactions in the Czech Republic to the request made by the European Parliament for the abolition of the Benes Decrees? “Bitter discussions on this issue have been inflaming public opinion in recent weeks. The Catholic bishops are following them with close attention and are of the view that the way in which they are being conducted is putting at risk the process of reconciliation between our peoples. The Church is convinced – as also are many important politicians of the EU – that reconciliation, rapprochement and union between our peoples can only take place if reciprocal relations are accompanied by a spiritual process. Europe has a need for the spiritual dimension. It is the task of the Church to emphasize this point of view. So in this way the Church may not only contribute to the solution of the German-Czech and Austro-Czech question but also help to promote the whole process of European unification”. How much do the legacies and the shadows of the past still weigh on relations between the two States? “The future can only be constructed in the consciousness of the common history of the Germans and Czechs over many centuries. It is therefore necessary to recognize this history without prejudices, not excluding its dark sides. Expressing superficial judgements on the ‘Germans’ or on the ‘Germans of the Sudetenland’ or on the ‘Czechs’ only hampers the way forward”. Do you think that the question of the Benes decrees is a kind of “entrance exam” for the Czech Republic’s membership of the EU? “I’m convinced that the Czech Republic will become a member of the European Union very soon.” What’s the role of the Church in the dialogue between the German and Czech community? “In the effort to alleviate the suffering and open new paths of dialogue, the Christian Churches have already pronounced on the post-war situation on various occasions. Already on 14 November 1945, in a joint pastoral letter, the Catholic bishops of the Czechoslovak Republic urged that ‘the innocent be not punished with the guilty’. In the pastoral letter ‘on the most urgent questions of Czechoslovak Catholics’, the Church had already repudiated in an unequivocal manner the concept of collective guilt. With the dissolution of the Communist systems in Europe, the hope was kindled that it might be possible to free ourselves of this burden of the past. The then archbishop of Prague, Cardinal Frantisek Tomasek, made a gesture of reconciliation towards the neighbouring Germans. The exchange of correspondence between the episcopal conferences of the two countries in 1990 took its cue from the experiences of the recent past to identify the contribution that the ecclesial communities of our two countries may make to the process of building a new Europe”. M.S.