Final Word from Monday, March 3, 2003
From the moment Václav Klaus was elected president, commentators have been questioning whether he'll keep the rather reasonable promises he made in the election campaign. The BBC, for example, argued yesterday that Klaus has so often said one thing and done another that it's hard to know what to expect. The biggest doubts relate to the EU (Klaus declared after his election that he supports accession), Iraq (war, he said, should be a last resort), pardons (Vladimír Železný will be treated like everyone else) and the Czech National Bank central bank (changes need to be made to bank oversight, he said). Klaus' influence could also be felt on budget reform and privatization, areas that have caused the two ČSSD cabinets particular problems. Privatization is where the big money is, so Klaus can be expected to offer some guidance soon on what to do with ČEZ, Unipetrol and Český Telecom.