Final Word from Friday, July 30, 2004
Giuseppe di Lampedusa is famous for saying that sometimes things must change so they may stay the same. And so it is with the new Czech cabinet. A few ministers will be shuffled about, but three-fourths of the faces will be familiar ones. This doesn't inspire much confidence, and Václav Klaus is said to be presidentially pissed off. There are two things Stanislav Gross could do to gain some trust from the international business community. First, he could name someone like Martin Jahn of CzechInvest as industry minister. Of all the people whose names are being floated, he's one of the few with concrete results behind him. Second, Gross could lay out some guidelines for how he's going to handle privatization. Political commentators are openly saying this is a cabinet built on dealmaking and money. Gross's credibility depends on proving them wrong. Italy Italian