Judgeocracy

Returned emigrants and anyone else who hasn't been able to qualify for a Czech pension, despite putting in years of toil, might have a flicker of hope of a happier retirement, thanks to the Constitutional Court's ruling on sick pay. If, as the Court ruled this week, it's unconstitutional to deny workers sick pay for the first three days of illness because they were "required to pay for sickness insurance and must receive compensation," it's only a short step to requiring the state to give at least a limited pension to anyone who has paid social-security tax. The 25- year qualifying period, it seems, would have to be abolished. So would all those tables showing how long the pay-as-you-go pension system can last before it runs out of money. But only if the Constitutional Court continues to try to dictate policy that is rightly left to elected politicians. Václav Klaus calls its "judgeocracy" (government by the judiciary), and the Czech Constitutional Court is now taking it to new heights. [Czech Republic soudcokracie payment sickness social]