Final Word from Thursday, April 7, 2011
Chief Justice Pavel Rychetský of the Constitutional Court stated last Fri. in HN that he's a proponent of European integration because external pressure can help eliminate corruption in the CR. He returned to it last night on Hyde Park but admitted that he's losing his optimism, because the CR is heading toward a Berlusconi-like defective democracy and not toward a functioning democracy. He failed to accept any of the blame for this himself, although he's been a key political player for 20 years. Instead of eliminating institutional corruption, the EU integration Rychetský so yearns for has actually served to feed it and legitimize it. Václav Dolejší argued persuasively in MFD that EU funds are destroying municipal Czech politics by turning it into a money grab. Yet the EU sits back and does little. It's all part of the globalization of corruption. Rychetský has been one of its purveyors, whether he realizes it or not.
Glossary of difficult words
proponent - a person who advocates a theory, proposal or project; supporter;
Hyde Park - see the 20:40 mark, as shown in the bottom left corner of the TV screen;
to yearn for something - to have a longing for something;
to feed - to encourage or enhance the growth of;
MFD - see Page 10 of the March 24th edition;
money grab - an undignified or unprincipled acquisition of a large sum of money with little effort;
purveyor - one who spreads, supplies or trades in a product or idea.