Final Word from Thursday, March 11, 2004
"Politicians are merely a cross section of the Czech population," is something we often hear. The latest person to insult both sides of the equation in this way was Mrs. Špidla, who told MFD that if treachery and hypocrisy exist in society, why shouldn't they exist in politics too? Education Minister Petra Buzková suggested that things will only get worse, because the quality of parliamentarians is on the decline. The mediocre politicians choosing new candidates for office won't allow stronger individuals to pass them by, she said. Ex-Finance Minister Ivo Svoboda clearly wasn't the slyest fox in the political den. His conviction for "tunneling" isn't so much a success of the clean-hands campaign, as some people are claiming, but rather confirmation that not-so-clever political tunnelers and rogues occasionally get caught. Just like tunnelers in the Czech population as a whole. Viktorie Špidlová MF Dnes