Students:Regional government group

Basic facts
Most region lies between the ore mountains, the Bohemian highlands and the Žatecká platform. Heights differ between 200 and 950 meter. With 8-9 degree Celsius in average the weather is quite warm and the rainfall with 500 mm quite low. The extensive industry in the past had devasting effect on the environment. Forests died, but now are recovering. Important nature reserves are Černý rybník and Jezerka. Historic monuments are rare because of the open pit mining and of the human waves of expulsion and immigration. Important is the church of Most, the castle Jezeří and Horní Jiřetín, which was once a famous pilgrimage.

Most is one of 7 districts of region Ústí nad Labem. Usti region covers 5,335 km2, accounting for 6.8 % of the Czech Republic’s total area. With approximately 831,000 inhabitants the region ranks fifth, making it the fourth densest area of the Czech Republic. Due to massive lay-offs and industrial restructuring Ústí is the region with the highest unemployment in the Czech Republic. Therefore education and incentives for job creation play an important role.

District Most covers 467 km2, there are only 2 towns with more than 5000 inhabitants: Most (68,000) and Litvínov (27,000). The whole district has 117,000 (2007) inhabitants. Workforce consists of about 60,000 pople, unemployment rate is 15%. The rate dropped faster in recent years than the overall Czech trend. Of job seekers 47% have elementary education and 50% have secondary education. Only 2% of them have an university degree. Most companies are active in the service sector (80%), followed by construction and industry with nearly equal shares. Only 2% are active in agriculture and forestry. The most important companies according to their turnover are active in extracting and processing raw materials.

Regarding the financial situation the city of Most is taken by example. The income of 2011 is expected to be 1,1 billion CZK and expenses 1,5 billion CZK. In 2008, 2009 and 2010 the deficits were 96, 160 and 159 million CZK. In contrast the income from the mining area raised from 300,000 CZK in 2010 to 2 million CZK in 2011.

A recent study analyzed the quality of life in 50 different Czech cities and placed Most on last position.

Political climate in the Most District
The political party Mostečané Mostu controls the city council over the 5 past years. In the last municipal elections in 2010 Mostečané Mostu won 50.7% votes. That means the party holds 26 out of 45 mandates in city council. In fact, there is no opposition in Most and all parties are collaborating. The local media point to above standard reciprocal cooperation of these parties. The party is financially supported by the important local businessman Jiří Zelenka and most of their representatives comes from the Housing Association SBD Krušnohor which administrates 21 781 flat units in Most and Litvínov. More than half of the Most’s population lives in SBD Krušnohor´s flats.

This party also stood at the beginning of another local political party Severočeši.cz which operates throughout Ústí nad Labem region and was registered 14th April 2008 and immediately got 13.2% votes in Ústí nad Labem region election in the same year. Severočeši.cz has not taken a clear position in question of breaking coal limits yet and is successfully avoiding answering it. The influence of Severočeši.cz is increasing and its people are preparing for the next region election in 2012. It already has to senators and many local councilors in many municipalities of Most district.

Plans and development strategies
Development strategies for the Ústí region are definied in the document SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY FOR THE ÚSTÍ REGION 2006–2020.

The following overall goals are:


 * Improve employability and education of citizens
 * The revitalisation of towns and villages
 * Improvements in public health
 * Enhancement of the social situation (reproductive behaviour, integration of minority groups, social phenomena)

The goals in relation to the administration of public affairs are:


 * engage the public in the planning and decision making process on a regional and local level.
 * support the activities of NGOs raising awareness for the principles of sustainable development.
 * improving the approach of individual towns and villages to integrated environmental protection.
 * ensure the interconnectedness of the economic, social and environmental area of strategic development
 * reduction of debts owed by towns and villages

Regarding ecological matters the following goals are set:


 * reduce the area suffering from bad air quality and improve overall air quality
 * reduce greenhouse gas emissions
 * reduce particle an NOx emissions
 * increase the number of public vehicles running on alternative fuels

To implement these strategies concrete activities are definied:


 * complete and improve the system of cycle routes in the Ústí Region by 2020
 * increase the total area of town centre pedestrian zones and the area of zones with limited traffic access by 2020.

Relation to lobby groups and other governmental units
The Czech Coal Group gave 34 million CZK to welfare projects in 2009. The 130 supported projects make up to 90% of the total amount of projects in Usti region.

Regarding the mining limits the regional government can make proposals. The actual decision is made by Czech government, which depends very much on national energy plans and visions. The national energy concept has special importance for the region because of the mines and power plants in the region. Brown coal contributed 76% to the electric energy mix in 2001 and 63% in 2010. So it will also play an important role in the future.

EU regulations may also be of importance for local decision, especially regarding environmental matters. This could result in going to court. Prosecutor could be neighboring Germany, in particular affected by environmental problems and related economic circumstances.

Because of the close border to Germany, municipalities are involved in many cross-border-cooperation called Euroregions.