Final Word from Thursday, April 6, 2017

Bohuslav Sobotka is under huge pressure at home and at work, but he still manages a zinger now and again. He told DVTV that if someone is conspiring against Andrej Babiš, perhaps it's the Babiš of 1999 who is conspiring against the Babiš of today, because the things he did in the past are catching up with him today. Ouch! What exactly was Babiš doing in 1999? As a humble employee of Agrofert, he was buying the CR's largest turkey producer, Adex, from IPB; he was maneuvering to get his man Pavel Švarc appointed to head Unipetrol; and he was engaging, in his owns words, in the "only problematic case in the history of Agrofert," the takeover of Lovochemie. What about Sobotka? He was waiting vainly for PM Miloš Zeman to appoint him as finance minister. He was also heading the parliamentary caucus of his party, ČSSD, which had a poll rating at the time of 12.5%. Just like now. Is perhaps the Sobotka of 1999 conspiring against the Sobotka of today? [Czech Republic Prince club]