Final Word from Tuesday, October 31, 2023

After Industry Min. Jozef Síkela went public in the Financial Times in Oct. with a complaint that Daniel Křetínský was using Blesk to attack him and to promote his own business interests, Daniel Častvaj of Křetínský's EPH told CzechCrunch that Síkela overpaid for Net4Gas by about Kč 23-27bn. The transaction was "fundamentally disadvantageous" for the state, Častvaj said, and he left it to readers to conclude why Síkela might have done this. After Síkela went public in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung at about the same time with a complaint that Volkswagen needed to make a decision by the end of this year about a gigafactory at the Líně airfield and that other investors were showing "more interest," VW Chair Oliver Blume traveled to Prague to meet personally with Síkela and PM Petr Fiala. Blume didn't comment after yesterday's meeting, but if Síkela is again up to something that is "fundamentally disadvantageous" for the state, the visit assured that Fiala is now fully aware of it. [ Czech Republic FAZ Group Pilsen electric cars e-vehicles battery batteries ]