Final Word from Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Pointing out Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek's brotherhood with arms trader Richard Háva of Omnipol, as KDU Chair Jiří Čunek did this week, is another piece of political usefulness. By reminding people of Háva, Čunek is endangering the opaque acquisition by the defense ministry of four C-295M transport planes from EADS. The cabinet released a few details of the purchase but kept the juicy parts under wraps. People with access to the secrets say the real cost is twice the Kč 3.5bn figure given. The fact that Háva's Omnipol will make a killing as middleman has also been kept out of the papers. We're about to find out who really runs the interim government of Jan Fischer. Is it the Háva-Kalousek team, represented by future Defense Minister and Vice PM Martin Barták (who wants the EADS deal signed this week)? Or is it Fischer, who wants to appraise the deal first? You get one guess.[Czech Republic CASA contractor prime minister]
Glossary of difficult words
brotherhood - an association or community of people linked by a common interest; (also an allusion to the stated brotherhood among KDU's members);
opaque - not transparent, unclear;
juicy - interestingly scandalous;
under wraps - in a veil of secrecy;
to make a killing - to have a great financial success;
middleman - a person who buys goods from producers and sells them on to a buyer;
to appraise - to assess the value or quality of.