The case brings up so many questions that without the minister's proper explanation the gossip will gradually turn into permanent suspicions. It is therefore in Nemec's best interest to provide the answers. The Supreme Court confirmed the minister's right to extradite the prince. Nemec has been convincing the public on TV that the prince, charged with sexual abuse of juveniles, would be a lot worse off when tried at home, where he allegedly faces a life sentence for the offense. Nemec said that Qatari authorities promised a severe prosecution of the local ruler's cousin. This brings up more questions: Would a person be so eager to face "life" at home when in the Czech Republic he could not have been sentenced to more than two and a half years? Is there an age limit on when you can have sex in Qatar? How fully-fledged is a woman's testimony in court in Qatar? And most of all: Has it ever happened, prior to this case, that a Czech justice minister has removed a foreigner from court to extradite him? If not, what made the prince so special? Not petrol dollars, Hanák hopes. After having his right to act in the case confirmed by the Supreme Court, Nemec decided to settle the score with those who stood in the way of his looking after the prince. Nemec threatened disciplinary procedure for the judge who refused to end the prince's custody and called for the resignation of the supreme state attorney. The true boundaries of judges' independence have now been set by the minister himself — he can take a person away from the court whenever he likes. To be allowed to do so by the law is unique in Europe and a true lawyer in the position of a justice minister would not make use of this right, Hanák writes.

The real market value of benefits parents receive on their child during maternity leave has rapidly declined over the past few years, and there is therefore a question of whether to provide such benefits at all, Martin Komárek writes in the Aug. 25 Mladá fronta Dnes.

Free-market economic philosophy says that such benefits don't make any sense. But then again, high taxes and social benefits make even less sense. The state should therefore lower these taxes or reward families that decide to have children. Families with little children have the lowest per capita income in the country and a parental bonus amounting to an alm is without merit. The state administration has an excuse, saying that it supports families. But for the families themselves, the money is far too little to make a difference. They live from one salary, and advising husbands and wives to take turns on maternal leave is pure fantasy, as the husband usually makes more money and cannot afford to lose his income.

It would be more honest for the state to abolish the parental benefit. The money could go to something more "useful" — for example, purchase of new army jets. And (Labor Minister Zdenek) Skromach should say it straight: We don't support families — because we don't want to do so, and also because we don't have the money, Komárek writes.