Final Word from Thursday, October 20, 2022

The Pirates would really like to impose a windfall tax retroactively to this year, despite the opposition from Finance Min. Zbyněk Stanjura of ODS due to constitutional concerns. Deputy Speaker of the House Olga Richterová of the Pirates wrote on Twitter that her party proposed the special tax earlier this year along the model of other countries because the banking and energy sectors have made unexpected profits as a result of the war in Ukraine and that the extra money should go back to the people. The Pirates had a big success last week with passage in the lower chamber of a Czech version of the Magnitsky act, which makes it possible to impose sanctions on the national level against those who violate human rights or undermine the democratic, rule-of-law state. The law is targeted mainly against Russians, but if even the justice minister is worried about the possibility of a civil war because of heat inequality, ambitious politicians will eventually explore all their legal options. [ Czech Republic Pavel Blažek ODS revolution banks ]