Final Word from Wednesday, August 13, 2003
Jan Kavan, whose official term as president of the U.N. General Assembly has ended, will soon be returning to Prague. Premier Vladimír Špidla has a soft spot for the ex-foreign minister, and there's a rumor in diplomatic circles that Špidla will create a new post for him. Špidla, we are told, isn't very happy with the way Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda has turned foreign policy into his own pro-American one-man-show. His comments on such issues as Israel, Nato, missile defense and the EU Constitution have favored the Americans. Špidla might try to counter this, the rumor goes, by creating an EU liaison office for Kavan at the cabinet headquarters. Kavan wouldn't be a full-fledged European-affairs minister, because an amendment to the competency law would be needed for this. But he'd get an important dossier and could help Špidla keep tabs on Svoboda.