Goldman to the rescue

With six weeks to go until the CR takes over as EU president, the stakes are rising for the country's vice PM for economics. Oops. The CR has no vice PM for economics. Mirek Topolánek hasn't appointed one yet. Topolánek mainly wants the economics czar to tackle domestic reforms, but there's little doubt he would also play a key role in formulating the CR's response to the global crisis as EU president. If Topolánek isn't careful, his predecessor as EU head, Nicolas Sarkozy, will steal the CR's thunder in this respect. Sarkozy and Tony Blair have called a meeting of world leaders in Paris for Jan. 8-9. Topolánek can appoint a relative lightweight to the vice PM post to avoid a repeat of the domestic politicking that brought down Martin Jahn, or he can pull an Obama and recruit a heavyweight rival like Vladimír Dlouhý who would make himself heard. The question is whether EU leaders would listen to someone who has worked for one of the very U.S. banks that they consider to be at the root of their financial problems. [Czech Republic Sachs European Union United States of America]