Jana Moravcová
Prize for Courage 2018 CZK 63 504
Jana Moravcová is a type of energetic lady who pursues a goal and stands by her views. As a student, she decided to devote her professional efforts to the protection of the environment. The graduate of the Charles University Faculty of Sciences accepted a senior reginal post at the Czech Environmental Inspectorate (ČIŽP). She rose through the ranks to the position of the head of the organization and assumed an impartial attitude to the many affidavits, requests and submissions, as required by her senior post. In many cases she encountered clientelist liaisons accompanying certain cases and disputes. Undeterred, she always promoted the case of nature protection, although it was often clear that the investor will pursue his goal with whatever means he has at his disposal. The best-known cases Jana Moravcová was personally involved in include the problematic launch of a distillery at Trmice near Ústí nad Labem, where ČIŽP was the only authority capable of withstanding political and agrarian pressures and openly siding with the public, who complained of an unbearable stench. In the aftermath of this case, debates followed long into Jana Moravcová’s departure from the Inspectorate: Negotiations were underway on the overhaul and reinstatement of the distillery and the Inspectorate repeatedly called for technical and operational adjustments to prevent the public from the odour. Behind-the-scenes talks were conducted, on behalf of the investor, by the Ústí Regional governor, Mr Šulc (ODS). Pressures on Jana Moravcová and her office were strong, but the inspectorate took a negative stance, based on expert views.
The photovoltaic power station project in the Ore Mountains, close to the Moldava municipality, was also the target of a heated dispute. The investor—a firm mostly owned by Alexandr Novák, an ODS “godfather” later convicted of corruption—had built the solar plant without expertise and permits, and in breach of several applicable laws. Jana Moravcová’s Inspectorate banned construction, meted out fines and lodged a a criminal complaint for abuse of official powers by clerks from the Duchcov Municipal Office. They were later penalized for the transgression. During the court proceedings on the removal of the illegal project, the Ombudsperson and the Ústí nad Labem Regional Court marked the Ústí ČZIP inspectorate as the only state administration body that proceeded in accordance with the law.
This particular case, similarly as other instances in which the Jana Moravcová-led regional environmental inspectorate strongly objected against environmentally harmful projects in localities protected as unique landscape sites, probably led to her dismissal.
Jana Moravcová and her team successfully coped with various pressures under the government tenure of the ODS and ČSSD. Moravcová was widely recognized as a successful environment inspector. But for obvious reasons, she was a thorn in the side of certain Ústí nad Labem politicos and several successive governments. The last nail in her professional coffin was her probe into the contamination of ground and surface water by leaks from the Vysočany waste-pond, owned by utility giant ČEZ. The Ústí nad Labem inspectorate sensed a serious ecological hazard and was about to start proceedings. By then, however, Brabec’s Ministry of the Environment and ČEZ had entered into a private agreement and the problem was swept under the carpet, after Moravcová’s dismissal from the Inspectorate.
In late February 2015, Jana Moravcová was served a notice, followed by another one in April, just to be on the safe side. But the Prague 9 District Court declared both notices null and void and Moravcová is still an employee. ČIŽP appealed against the verdict and in November 2018 the court surprisingly confirmed the validity of the notice.
So, the story of Mrs Jana Moravcová is far from over. But she remains her former self—a principled professional, dedicated to the environment even without the powers of a civil servant.
