Final Word from Friday, June 1, 2007
Interviews in HN and MFD this week made clear what Petr Kellner of PPF thinks of the Czech business environment. He said he moved his headquarters to the Netherlands because there is a stable legal environment there, with enforcement and investment protection. We ask, with all due respect, what Mr. Kellner - the CR's richest person - has done to improve the Czech legal environment? He presides over the CR's most powerful lobbying operation, but he uses it only to influence his own company-specific issues, from ad airtime on Czech TV to the minutiae of insurance law. He's not alone in this. Agrofert, ČEZ, ČSOB, Penta, Sazka, and the large building companies are also powerful lobbyists that pay little or no attention to helping to improve such things as the judicial system, general education or the overall business environment. Kellner told MFD that he'd like PPF to be seen one day as a company that made a difference. This is his chance.[Czech Republic Television Česká pojišťovna advertising TV Nova Hospodářské noviny MF Dnes]