Final Word from Wednesday, December 20, 2017
If Andrej Babiš manages to arrange a meeting with EU Commission Pres. Jean-Claude Juncker in the second half of Jan., Miloš Zeman will be forever in his debt. Babiš has identified fighting quotas as a priority of his new cabinet, at least that's what he told TV Nova, and Juncker has come to embody the effort to force refugees on the Visegrad countries. If there were doubts in recent weeks about whether Zeman will win reelection, Juncker is helping to allay them. First he refused to meet one-on-one with Babiš. Then he threatened to use a qualified majority to pass new quotas. Now Zeman will be able to make allusion to this in his Christmas address and repeat it in Parliament on Jan. 10, just minutes before Babiš tells MPs and TV viewers that saving Czechs from quotas is his priority. Two days later, Zeman will enter the elections as the candidate who most consistently supported the view on migration now adopted by 80% of voters. All that will be lacking is for Juncker to give Babiš an ultimatum between the two rounds of voting. Why should Zeman campaign, when Juncker does the work for him? [Czech Republic television immigration European]
Glossary of difficult words
to embody - to be an expression of or give a tangible or visible form to (an idea, quality or feeling);
to allay - to diminish or put to rest (fear, suspicion or worry);
allusion - an expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly;
to be lacking - to be missing.