Buy CEZ

The cabinet's decision this week to sell the power distributors to ČEZ at an artificially low price is being criticized by MP Ivan Pilip of US-DEU and others as one of the worst decisions of the Zeman government. The sale is designed so that nearly everyone involved - except taxpayers - gains. This includes ČEZ's management, its shareholders, and the politicians who helped put the deal together. Patria estimates that shareholders will get at least a Kč 10bn windfall. Others say Kč 30bn. Stock analysts are, understandably, telling their customers to buy ČEZ, and most of these shareholders happen to be foreigners. At a time when ODS is criticizing the cabinet for giving unnecessary incentives to foreign investors, the Zeman cabinet is giving them a multibillion-crown gift. If voters understood what's happening, they wouldn't like it.