Speech of the Prime Minister of the CR, Mirek Topolánek on the occasion of winner ceremony of the competition "Village of the Year" on December 4th

Allow me little trip around the Czech Republic:

Telnice, Vratěnín, Svatý Ján nad Malší, Jiřetín pod Sedlovou, Olejnice, Sloup, Kameničky, Nečtiny, Vilémov, Kovářov, Bořetice, Liptál. Yes, you are right; they are not regional capitals, but villages that had to do more to achieve their position, than to be just big.

I am pleased that the prize "Village of the Year" is awarded in our country. It has been awarded for twelve years. It reminds all pragocentrists the fact that the Czech Republic does not end at Prague borders. It reminds me that there are places where it is common to take pitchfork in one's hand when it is necessary to put away manure, not to call a meeting of the Chamber of Deputies. Sometimes I would prefer such way of cleaning, believe me! To cleanse the Augean stables!

I try to organize my work so as I could meet people from regions. To see how our country looks like. To see places, where people have only that, what they had done themselves. I know that it is a hard work for small villages, but it also has indisputable advantages: nobody meddles in your affairs, what is planned is also done and nobody spoils your work.

If there are some wreckers somewhere, I know where they are. And one of priorities of my government, if it continues in its activities, is to cease general bureaucracy, centralization, corruption, to say it in simply: bullying. By all those papers, questionnaires, stamps. We want money to be kept by those who earn it and we want those who know something about certain matter to have opportunity to decide on it.

You, who are here, certainly know how to decide correctly. You know how to use money of your villages. You know how to motivate people, so that they would try to achieve the best quality of life in their villages. It is called everyday routine. In your villages, results are immediately visible. But the entire state administration has to be built on the same principles - whether it concerns the village of the year, my native Vsetín or Prague, mother of towns.

Not every village can become a winner of this competition. But let us appreciate every village that tries to win. It is excellent if somebody is the best one, but it is more excellent, when all are good. Let us be good Bohemians, Moravians and Silesians, wherever we live.

Let us drink to it!