Final Word from Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Václav Klaus, Stanislav Gross and Petr Nečas all left office as a direct result of a financial scandal, but Bohuslav Sobotka is the only Czech PM who had a major potential scandal hanging over him before he took office. OKD was, and is, his Achilles' heel. He's no longer unique, though, because the other two most likely contenders for PM after the 2017 elections - Andrej Babiš and Milan Chovanec - also have potential scandals waiting to bring them down. Babiš has the unresolved Stork's Nest subsidy, and Chovanec now has the problem of an underpriced Pilsen apartment from a supplier to his ministry. What sets Chovanec apart from both Sobotka and Babiš is the puny amount in question. He was willing to risk his chance to become PM because of just a million crowns or so. Sobotka thinks in much bigger terms, esp. since his own apartment scandal. And now that he's finance minister, Babiš won't get out of bed for less than a billion. [Czech Republic Agrofert prime minister]