Green illusions

Like in the film "Soylent Green," the Czech Greens might eat themselves for dinner before they ever make it into Parliament. For years, the party has been mired in personality conflicts. Martin Bursík, the new chairman, was supposed to fix this, but one of the disgruntled past leaders, Jakub Patočka, told Právo that Bursík is made of the same stuff as Stanislav Gross and Miroslav Kalousek. Those who vote for the Greens will be voting for a mixture of ambitious manipulators, corrupt politicians and a few respectable, unknowing people, he said. Patočka said he suspects Bursík of being willing to drop any of the Greens' priorities to get into the government. He pointed specifically to Bursík's willingness to back away from the Green demand to pull out of nuclear power. Curiously for a Green, Bursík told Czech Radio that the nuclear issue will become obsolete once ČEZ is privatized. [Czech Republic environmentalism environmentalists Temelín ČSSD KDU-ČSL]