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July 6th, 2005 issue

It's no accident the Communist Party (KSČM) has again entered the antechamber of power, opines Petr Nováček in Lidové noviny June 30. They benefit not only from the "ideologically unprejudiced" stance of Social Democratic Prime Minister Jiří Paroubek but also from the fact that other parties are forced to work with them in Parliament. Over the past five years the proportion of seniors among its supporters has dropped from two-thirds to one-half — it is thus gaining ground with younger voters. The KSČM's participation in government can still be ruled out after the 2006 elections, but the situation may be different by 2010. By then voters under 40 will have no personal experience of the former regime and may not reject a slightly modernized KSČM. Paroubek is taking this weakened historical memory into account and is preventively conceding the possibility of power-sharing with them. It's not enough to hope that the KSČM doesn't implement its program or that the Social Democrats can dominate the left with a mildly reformist program. It's necessary to cross swords with the Communists before they rejuvenate their electorate with new malcontents. The duel cannot be fought with comfortable anti-communist rhetoric but must engage the KSČM in a debate that will demand immediate and concrete answers to what foreign policy the party would pursue, whether it intends to expropriate private property and reintroduce state ownership, or where it will get the money to pay for "free" health care and decent pensions. Most importantly, the party's anti-capitalist urges should be outstripped. If all remaining democratic parties agree that reforms of public finances, pensions and health care are necessary, they should implement them in time, before the KSČM has more of a say in a couple years' time.

Prime Minister Jiří Paroubek emphasized that his trip to China would focus primarily on economic issues, observes Martin Hála in Hospodářské noviny June 30. Though journalists had pressed him over whether he would bring up the issue of human rights, dialogue on this subject requires certain moral and political authority and therefore it's probably better he didn't dwell on it. The development of economic ties is sufficient reason for a state visit and respectable statesmen travel with this agenda regularly. However, they usually end up signing contracts worth billions, whereas Paroubek appears to have only signed the certificate of a Peking duck dressed as a Chinese emperor. The prime minister says he acted as a "vanguard" for Czech businessmen and entrepreneurs, but over the past 15 years there have already been five such missions, the only concrete result being an ever-worsening trade imbalance. Many Czech politicians obviously imagine the Chinese economy as a somewhat timid (though successful) version of the former Soviet bloc's centrally planned economies. The former managers of socialist-era companies tend to extrapolate their own experience and expect a little camaraderie with the Beijing politburo is all that's needed to get business rolling. Chinese leadership only employs its influence over billion-crown contracts, and the projects that Paroubek allegedly discussed on his trip are either below the politburo's distinguishing ability or are well underway. Unless the entrepreneurs in Paroubek's entourage held some meaningful meetings of their own, it seems the only thing left behind by the top-level visit would be the certified eaten duck.

—Compiled by Dan Macek

Kristina Alda can be reached at kalda@praguepost.com


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