The coalition failed to push through the Chamber of Deputies the plan to increase the number of troops in Afghanistan and the opposition even blocked further extension of the foreign mission. “It’s an international disgrace. We aren’t fulfilling our NATO commitments,” said PM Mirek Topolánek. It is truly a problem: Czech reconstruction teams will lose military protection, special anti-terrorist forces assigned to search for Taliban members in Afghanistan will lose an acclaimed Czech elite unit, the Czech Republic’s will lose a bit of its prestige and strengthens an old myth about a nation that prefers not to fight.
Social Democratic leader Jiří Paroubek and his foreign affairs advisor Luboš Zaorálek, whose speeches are increasingly enraged, will be able to tick off another plus on their way to power. The Social Democrats have totally given up on political visions and basic responsibility towards their fellow men and back only what is in tune with the opinion of the majority. The cost doesn’t matter as long as it paves the way to power. Is the nation against cash medical fees? We will base our campaign on that regardless of taxpayers’ spending. People don’t support foreign military missions? Let’s cancel them. Is the economic crisis coming? Let’s continue wasting money on social allowances.
It’s a cowardly approach underlined by the rejection to extend the Afghan mission. Zaorálek has only completed his downfall from the position of a respected intellectual with his own opinions. Now he only has Paroubek’s opinions. Social Democratic safety expert Tejc is invisible and it’s hard to make him say a meaningful sentence – he only responds in phrases. Former military intelligence head Jiří Krejčík works for the party. Clearly, nobody listens to what he says. Does it make any sense to do such work?
The Social Democrats are betting on the worst approach. They knock down the government’s chair at a time when the government is to take over the EU presidency. They don’t have any plan to tackle corruption, help the economy or improve transparency of the budget and public tenders worth billions. They offer nothing but strong and empty words and their voters succumb to this. People like Paroubek, Zaorálek or Rath are now much closer to the Communists than we could have imagined two years ago.
Translated with permission by the Prague Daily Monitor.
