Final Word from Monday, August 14, 2023

Robert Fremr, a candidate for the Constitutional Court, told Czech TV late last week that he sometimes has the feeling that the "campaign" against him isn't so much about him. Some people, such as Ondřej Kundra of Respekt, understood this to be a similar gripe to the way Andrej Babiš accuses his political rivals of conducting a "campaign" against him, but Fremr clearly didn't mean it that way. What Fremr meant is that he might not be the ultimate target. Pres. Libor Vávra of the SU Judges Union told LN that he isn't a political scientist but that it seems to him that Fremr has become part of a political battle between Pres. Petr Pavel and the Senate. Members of ODS are showing absolute inconsistency by criticizing Fremr's past now, he said, because the party always promoted judicial continuity after 1989. PM Petr Fiala is on vacation but will have to say soon after returning whether he truly looks forward to working with new Chief Justice Josef Baxa or whether Baxa is the next one on ODS's hit list. [ Czech Republic complaint Lidové noviny Television ]