Final Word from Wednesday, March 30, 2022

A democratic government in a rule-of-law state acts within the law, and when the law is ambiguous, it acts conservatively. The constitutional law on the security of the country is ambiguous about whether a state of emergency declared by the government may be extended by the lower house of Parliament for more than 30 days. A democratic government would act conservatively and honor the accepted practice of not exceeding the 30-day period. The ruling coalition headed by PM Petr Fiala declined yesterday to act conservatively and instead extended the state of emergency related to the inflow of Ukrainian refugees by 58 days. This makes the Fiala government something less than democratic. Whether it is also despotic is yet to be seen. The state of emergency gives it vast powers to restrict freedoms and to seize property. It insists that it will not abuse these powers. Why, then, did it unnecessarily extend the state of emergency by 58 days? What is Fiala not telling us? [ Czech Republic five-party migrants migration ]