Final Word from Wednesday, May 2, 2018
Chief Justice Pavel Rychetský of the Constitutional Court complained to HN two weeks ago that multinationals are becoming so powerful that they're starting to encroach on the rights of national governmental bodies. He didn't assume any personal responsibility for this as the one who opened the floodgates to outside influence by introducing "shared sovereignty" to the constitutional order so that EU laws could rule in the Czech lands. According to the Financial Times, the EU Commission now wants to use Art. 322 of the EU treaties to choke off EU funding to countries where problems with the rule of law endanger sound financial management. This means primarily Poland and Hungary, but also the CR if Andrej Babiš starts getting out of line. As Rychetský sees it, the Czech Constitution is the last and only anchor that can save the fundamental principles of the democratic rule-of-law state. Brussels disagrees. Its purse strings are now the bigger safeguard. [Czech Republic joint European Union Hospodářské noviny]
Glossary of difficult words
to encroach on/upon - to intrude on (a person's territory, rights, personal life, etc.);
floodgates - a last restraint holding back an outpouring of something powerful or substantial;
to choke off - to bring to a stop or to an end as if by choking;
purse strings - the spending of money by a family, company, or country;
safeguard - a measure taken to protect someone or something or to prevent something undesirable.