Final Word from Friday, May 18, 2007
ČEZ's share buyback is starting to present the same kind of risk to Mirek Topolánek's government as the case of Jiří Čunek. Vice PM Čunek is a problem for his own party because he seems to confirm the image of everything that's wrong with KDU. He's a problem for the Greens because their ultimatums have taken them nowhere. And he's a problem for ODS because Topolánek is responsible in the end for all his ministers. Behind Čunek's legal troubles is a mere Kč 500,000 alleged bribe, whereas in the case of ČEZ the amount to be pocketed is 10,000 times larger. This raises the stakes considerably. Unless they intervene, ODS and the Greens will look complicit in yet another murky deal by KDU, behind which Richard Háva must surely be lurking somewhere. Politically, this is especially dangerous for the Greens, because they risk losing their image as a clean source of power. [Czech Republic KDU-ČSL premier prime minister electricity energy]