Mayors of small Czech towns said they want bidding for the Prague 2016 Summer Games to be decided on by the people in a referendum because they fear the Games would draw money away from their respective municipal budgets.
Jana Jurencakova, spokeswoman for the group, handed a petition in support of the referendum signed by more than 1,000 Praguers to Prague City Hall officials.
Jurencakova said the petitioners reacted to Prague Mayor Pavel Bem’s statement last year that if a referendum were to be held on the Olympics it should be a national one. “This is nothing different from what he called for. We’ve taken him at his word”.
She said the indebted Czech Republic is not prepared to pay for the Olympics.
According to the law the City Assembly has to discuss the petition in two months. If people support the Prague Olympics in a referendum the mayors say it would be their sovereign decision, and they should be aware of the fact that the Olympics will be preferred at the cost of a number of other things.
One of the mayors, Ladislav Sifta said, “without a referendum however Prague should finance the Games by itself and keep the possible profit”.
Prague’s bid began in early September when Bem and the Czech Olympic Committee chairman signed a document declaring Prague’s interest in bidding.
A financial study from 2004 showed the Games would cost almost 136 billion crowns and would generate a profit of 25 billion crowns.
