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We are going to have a government composed of experts. The incumbent government coalition and the ČSSD are each supposed to nominate the same number of ministers. The ministers should have no party membership cards, but here I dare predict that this “fundamentalistic” party-free vision will not be fully met. The president is going to come up with his version of a government as well – for the case that the two large parties fail to come to terms. Will there be any common candidate among the experts proposed by the ČSSD, the ODS and the Castle? And why an expert cannot have any party membership card? Is he going to get it later for merits? Or does he haveContinue Reading

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Although the information hasn’t made front page headlines yet, the biggest behind-the-scenes swarm of lobbyists is now hovering over the construction of two additional reactors at the Temelín nuclear plant. The actual deal looks “somewhat” different. The state-owned energy giant ČEZ is looking to secure five nuclear reactors: two for Temelín and another three for power plants that the energy company plans to build abroad, altogether, a contract worth CZK 500 billion. It’s a gigantic tender, the biggest in Czech history. Although ČEZ is a joint-stock company, 70% of it is controlled by the state. Since it is the state that manages important security risks in the nuclear energy sector, this is essentially a government tender and politicians and officialsContinue Reading

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The image and reputation of the Czech Republic in Europe and the world is beginning to sink significantly and fast. Rumors have it that the Czech Republic will not meet – as promised – its deadline set for 15 December to launch the monitoring system for drawing EU funds which flow to the Czech Republic. We could lose dozens of billions of crowns and not just that. We could end up on the same boat together with Romania and Bulgaria, both of which have already seen reductions in funding from the EU for various reasons. Let’s look at the problem in a wider context. The Czech government was brought down during the worst economic crisis since the end of theContinue Reading

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President Václav Klaus wrote an article for Monday’s Hospodářské noviny, in which he warned against the efforts of the European Union, respectively of the European Central Bank, to transfer some banking supervision powers to the European level. The head of state points to creeping centralisation and refers to expert texts by means of which the Czech National Bank resists efforts at supervision centralisation. A few notes on that. The issue of a shift of powers to the European level of course deserves a proper discussion, but at the same time, one must know what expert (apart from the fact that he is an expert) is facing the threat of a loss, restriction or bigger supervision of his own agenda andContinue Reading

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The fall of the Czech government is coming at a very unfortunate time, not only for us, but this time also for all of Europe and even for the entire world. The government collapsed in the middle of the Czech presidency of the European Union and at a time when it needs to push through anti-crisis measures in the parliament and come up with new ones. Klaus presidnecyLet’s take a look at the European level first. Europe is getting ready for the key G20 summit, but that of course is not the end. The global economy is falling into the worst crisis since World War II, and the impact on Europe will be worse than elsewhere in the world. StrongContinue Reading