Final Word from Monday, November 1, 2004
When we wrote that it wouldn't hurt if some of Nicolas Sarkozy's decisiveness rubbed off on Stanislav Gross, we didn't expect the target of his newfound assertiveness to be Václav Klaus. First Gross ignored Klaus' appeal for the removal of Chief Wiretapper Jiří Kolář, and then he put Klaus in his place on the issue of the EU constitution. When Klaus rightly carped that there had been little public debate on the constitution before the cabinet passed it, Gross called this nonsense and accused Klaus of wanting to draw attention to himself because the Czech constitution gives him little say over important events. So far, relations between Gross and Klaus have been rather warm. Gross is completing his first 100 days in office and apparently now thinks his power base is secure. A long line of other politicians who tried to put Klaus in his place are now being served humble pie. Police President