Final Word from Wednesday, July 20, 2011
When Germany decided to pull out of nuclear power, the ČEZ lobby went into fullalert. PM Petr Nečas warned of a 30% electric-price hike after 2022 and called onthe Germans to respect the decision of the Czechs to continue with nuclear power.Nečas also had an unreported meeting with EU Competition Commissioner JoaquínAlmunia. Not to be outdone, ČEZ CEO Martin Roman warned Czech MPs aboutlikely pressure from Germany to end nuclear-power production. Some peoplethought the reaction was driven by fear that the lucrative Temelín deal could bescuppered. But when RWE and Gazprom announced exclusive talks to form a JV,the ČEZ lobby was strangely quiet. As we wrote before, the prospect of cheapergas is also a big threat to the Temelín enlargement. But standing up to Berlin is onething for the ČEZ lobby; taking a public stance against the Kremlin is quite another.
Glossary of difficult words
full alert - a high level of readiness;
to scupper - to prevent from working or succeeding; to thwart;
JV - joint venture;
prospect - the possibility or likelihood of some future event occurring.