Final Word from Thursday, October 13, 2011
The EU condemned the seven-year prison sentence in Ukrainethis week for Yulia Tymoshenko, but Czech politicians weremostly quiet on the matter. Except for Foreign Minister KarelSchwarzenberg, who said that Ukraine was jeopardizing itschances for an association agreement with the EU. Tymoshenkowas accused of acting against the interests of her country bysigning a natural-gas contract with Russia at double the pricepaid by Germany and other customers. There's little doubtthat she committed a criminal or treasonous act. What bothersthe EU, and Schwarzenberg, is that she was singled out forpunishment. As journalist Jan Petránek told the Czech Councilon Foreign Relations this week, there are few people in Europein leading positions today who aren't thieves. When criminalacts are the norm, Petránek asked, how can any one misdeedbe fairly punished? This was often the unspoken reason inthe CR for condemning the Promopro investigation, with themain difference being that the CR was already in the EU.
Glossary of difficult words
cohort - an accomplice or conspirator;
to jeopardize - to put someone or something in a situation of danger of loss, harm or failure;
to single out - to choose someone or something from a group for special treatment;
misdeed - a wrong or illegal act.