Final Word from Tuesday, June 4, 2002
Interior Minister Stanislav Gross said in Jan. that during the first half of this year, ČSSD was going to go after some big fish who had stolen hundreds of millions or even billions of crowns. Not much time remains for Gross to keep his promise. Last week, according to Lidové noviny, he announced a war against ODS and is planning a final attack on the party. There are rumors that this will include the arrest of Vladimír Železný of TV Nova before the elections, perhaps on tax evasion. Železný's arrest would no doubt be another damaging blow to ODS, but we question whether Gross will dare to take the step. He's one of the CR's most careful politicians, and he would be risking his chance of joining an ODS-ČSSD cabinet. ODS's reaction to the resignation of Jan Kasl has reminded us how tough the party can be on anyone who gets in its way.