Final Word from Monday, October 29, 2012
Václav Klaus's opposition to renewable energy took a curious
turn yesterday. He declared that various lobbyist groups hidden
behind NGOs have changed the energy laws to benefit
themselves. Klaus had blamed Martin Bursík of the Greens in
2010 for the exorbitant solar subsidies, but why would he be
bringing up the Greens now? MFD deduced that Klaus was
instead targeting Andrej Babiš and his ANO 2011 political
movement. Babiš is a threat to the established political parties
and has also accused someone close to Klaus (Václav Petr of
Erpet) of asking him for a bribe so that Klaus would not veto the
biofuel law. But if Klaus was trying to spite Babiš last night, he
did it in such an oblique way (without naming any names) that he
stirred up a hornets' nest that could get many of his own
supporters stung too. GM Jan Světlík of Vítkovice Machinery
Group claimed recently that 40% of MPs are direct investors in
solar power and that the rest used offshore companies to do so.
Which ones of them did Klaus have in mind?[Czech Republic solar power photovoltaics]
Glossary of difficult words
to bust open - (in this context) to expose, uncover;
scam - a dishonest scheme; a fraud;
NGO - nongovernmental organization, civic group;
exorbitant - (of a price or amount charged) unreasonably high;
to deduce - to draw a logical conclusion;
to spite - to deliberately hurt, annoy or offend someone;
oblique - indirect, inexplicit;
a hornets' nest - a situation fraught with difficulties or complications.