Final Word from Monday, September 11, 2017

It doesn't happen often, but Pres. Miloš Zeman stood up last week for PM Bohuslav Sobotka. Zeman told TV Barrandov that the timing of the OKD trial was suspicious, just as the timing of the immunity request in the Stork's Nest case was. Zeman's defense of Sobotka was of course a roundabout way of attacking his chief adversary and of defending Babiš. Zeman thinks that the OKD case isn't getting enough coverage. Some commentators, such as Radko Kubičko of Czech Radio, fear that if Babiš becomes PM, it will change the way MPs and others treat him. It's a valid fear, especially if we take into account the way Sobotka, as the current PM, is given special treatment. The mainstream media were willing to give him a pass not only in terms of the OKD letter he sent to Brussels, but also in terms of his aborted plan to sign a secret deal with the Chinese Communist Party and his botching of the internal ČSSD referendum. Babiš can only dream of such treatment. [Czech Republic China European Commission]