Final Word from Wednesday, June 26, 2013

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Miloš Zeman travels to Berlin today for two days of meetings with Joachim Gauck, Angela Merkel and other German officials. He told Czech Radio on Sun. that domestic problems should only rarely be aired abroad, so an earnest discussion of whether he is circumventing the principles of parliamentary democracy by naming a government based on the whims of the opinion polls instead of the will of Parliament isn't likely to be at the top of his list of talking points. This omission clashes somewhat with his stated objective of speaking with Merkel about the position of the CR within the EU. Surely the kind of "power vertical" he is creating in Czech politics is more often associated with Russia than with the EU. And when he talks with Merkel about economic diplomacy, he will no doubt keep quiet about the way his PM has installed the CEO of a major potential supplier for enlarging Temelín directly in the cabinet (Martin Pecina of Vítkovice Power Engineering). Shouldn't Zeman be travelling to a different European capital today?[Czech Republic ČEZ Nuclear Power Germany European Union Jiří Rusnok]