Final Word from Wednesday, January 24, 2024
Even as more details of Petr Fiala's undeclared million-crown share in the PDZ credit union were coming out yesterday, MEP Jan Zahradil of ODS told CNN Prima News that it's a tempest in a teapot and that the failure to report the money was just a slip-up on Fiala's part. Zahradil has been one of the biggest critics of the Spolu coalition but was being a good soldier yesterday. Despite the plummet in ODS's ratings, he said, no one in the party is going to seek to replace Fiala before next year's parliamentary elections. In an editorial earlier this month about Fiala's foreign-policy model, Joe Biden, The Economist wrote that Democratic leaders have been cowardly and complacent in refusing to push the highly unpopular president not to run again. Yet the solution at this late juncture isn't to find a replacement for him, the magazine said, but rather to double down and to support Biden. That's where ODS is today too: It's in a mess of its own doing, and it'll just have to try to make the best of it. [ Czech Republic Party United States president teacup Together Podnikatelská družstevní záložna ]
Glossary of difficult words
tempest in a teapot/teacup - a small event that has been exaggerated out of proportion;
slip-up - a minor or careless mistake;
plummet - a steep and rapid fall or drop;
complacent - showing smug or uncritical satisfaction with oneself or one's achievements;
juncture - a particular point in events or time;
to double down - to strengthen one's commitment to a particular strategy or course of action, typically one that is potentially risky.