EU expediency
2008-04-24
It's become almost trite to note that ODS alternately invokes or
spurns the EU, depending on which approach suits its purpose.
It wants the EU reform treaty to be evaluated for its adherence
to the Czech Constitution, for example, but it objects to a
Constitutional Court ruling on sick pay by saying it's common EU
practice to deny coverage for the first few days of illness.
Suddenly, the actual wording of the Czech Constitution isn't so
important to it anymore. What's more worrisome, though, is the
thought that the Constitutional Court might adopt this same
sort of EU expediency. The Court struck down the sick-pay
provision and upheld the squeeze-out rules, despite differing
EU practices, but there are signs that the Court will uphold the
controversial health fees, in part because they're common in
Europe. The result of this is that Czechs don't really know which
laws are ultimately governing them.
[Czech Republic European Union sickness insurance expedient
majority owners minority]
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