Final Word from Monday, February 13, 2006
When the ČSSD-led government needed to justify its controversial decisions in the Unipetrol privatization, it employed the Brussels defense. The EU signed off on the deal, the ministers said, so it had to be in order. The government is now trotting out the same defense with regard to the scandal at the NBÚ National Security Office. House Speaker Lubomír Zaorálek and Interior Minister František Bublan said on TV yesterday that Nato has been monitoring the vetting agency, so things can't be all that bad there, even if there is an apparent link between the NBÚ and organized crime. The NBÚ has files on anyone who needs a security clearance, so the room for extortion is huge. Czech officials are far too clever to allow anything as mundane as a peer review to get in their way. The mention of "Brussels" in such cases might therefore come to be seen in the future as a euphemism for "cover-up." [Czech Republic European Union North Atlantic Treaty Organization Jan Mareš Parliament television background check]