Final Word from Thursday, October 5, 2017

"A lion doesn't ask for permission before he eats a zebra," said Frank Underwood in "House of Cards." Neither is Volkswagen asking Czechs what they think about the move in the coming years of the production of Superbs to Germany. It wasn't long ago that ČMKOS labor leader Josef Středula was boasting about how German unionists were coming to Prague to support local wage demands. It now seems that they came to Prague for Czech jobs instead. If there was ever a time for PM Bohuslav Sobotka to call in favors from Angela Merkel, it is now. The CR has treated German industry with kid gloves for 25 years and went extremely light on VW in terms of Dieselgate. Instead of demanding an appointment with the lion and laying down the law, though, Sobotka plans to meet with a keeper of the zebras, Škoda Auto's HR board member, Bohdan Wojnar. What is this going to achieve? Absolutely nothing, other than a few headlines in the ČSSD-friendly media. [Czech Republic unions emissions scandal]