By:
On:
In: Opinion
Tagged: , ,

People’s interest in politics is falling, according to a recent survey by the polling agency CVVM. (While, in 2007, 50% of Czech were interested in politics, a year later it was only 46%.) The number of Czechs interested in EU politics, moreover, has fallen to a record low. Some 64% say they don’t care about political happenings in the EU. The statistics are even more discouraging when it comes to people’s willingness to go to the polls. According to the CVVM survey, only 40% of Czechs plan to vote in the upcoming European parliamentary elections. If you take a look at the election billboards posted across the country, the statistics are not so surprising. The country is chock-full of negativeContinue Reading

By:
On:
In: Politics
Tagged: , , ,

The deportation of two Russian spies isn’t a one-shot deal dropped out of the blue. It was the culmination of an 11-month NATO battle to break up Russia’s international and well-organized network of agents collecting information in member states. NATO’s defensive operation began in September of last year with the arrest of a high-ranking official of the Estonian Interior Ministry, Herman Simm. He was the one to indirectly steer the local secret services in the direction of the two spies at Prague’s Russian embassy. That September morning began as usual for Simm, 61. He got into a state limousine in front his residence not far from the Estonian capital and headed to the Justice Ministry’s headquarters, where he worked asContinue Reading

By:
On:
In: Opinion
Tagged: , ,

The budget threatens a giant deficit, and the Czech Republic is getting closer and closer to the edge of the economic abyss. The headlines suggest something really serious is going on. But politicians can’t agree on a way out. The Social Democrats do not want to cut social expenses and benefits. The ODS disagrees with the cabinet’s proposal to increase VAT. Economists, meanwhile, are holding their heads and warn that there won’t be enough money to pay public servants’ salaries and pensions. There is one solution that everybody could agree on, but no one talks about it much. Two weeks ago, the United Kingdom signed an intergovernmental agreement with Liechtenstein that allows the latter to cancel agreements with British companiesContinue Reading

By:
On:
In: Opinion
Tagged: , ,

It is as if you wanted to pass a difficult maths exam but only switched half of the brain on. This is the exact feeling one experiences when one comes across the current list of lower house candidates. Out of the 13 ODS leaders’ positions only one is taken up by a woman. Social Democrats have a similar proportion. Even though it was hard to imagine it, it is in fact worse than it was in the parliamentary elections three years ago. The key question is what prevents the women in ODS and ČSSD to get into the leading positions? And what can be done about it? It is not easy to look for an explanation of what is goingContinue Reading

By:
On:
In: Opinion
Tagged: , ,

We are by now used to Jiří Paroubek in politics, and we know that he is not stranger to great political somersaults. First he launched radar negotiations with the United States, then he changed his mind and became a staunch opponent of the project. He demonstrated a similar change of heart when it came to sending out Czech troops on foreign missions. At first he was in favour. Then he was against. But his last turnaround was still somewhat surprising. Up until now Paroubek presented himself as a pro-European politician and backed this up by calling for a quick euro adoption. But that is no longer the case. “I have begun to see this issue differently than three quarters ofContinue Reading