Final Word from Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Prague has the large Congress Center, but the facility can't really handle a large congress, because it's inadequate for the purpose. To compete with the likes of Vienna and Barcelona, the Congress Center would need a first-class makeover and an international operator capable of handling important events. The city of Prague is willing to put Kč 800m into the remodeling in a complicated deal with the finance ministry that would eventually wipe out the facility's Kč 2bn debt. The holdup, ironically, is Industry Minister Martin Kuba, who is refusing to sign off on the deal on the cabinet level unless he gets something for his own party boys. Prague Mayor Bohuslav Svoboda might be from ODS too, but he's from the wrong ODS as far as Kuba is concerned. Kuba is ranting and raving about the need to jump-start the economy with public projects, but what he really apparently means is public projects for the right people.[Czech Republic Austria Spain]
Glossary of difficult words
the likes of - used of someone or something regarded as a type;
makeover - a complete transformation or remodeling of something, esp. a person's hairstyle, makeup or clothes;
holdup - a situation that causes a delay, esp. to a journey;
to sign off on something - to assent or give one's approval to something;
to rant and rave - to speak or shout at length in a wild, impassioned way;
to jump-start (the economy) - to give an added impetus to something that is proceeding slowly or is at a standstill.