Pilip or bust

US-DEU might have just put the next-to-last nail in its coffin. Its support of the "millionaire's" tax, even if in a milder version, was a great disappointment for many of its few remaining voters. The final nail could come when it chooses a new chairman in the coming months. Vladimír Mlynář, one of US's three ministers and the favorite to head the party, revealed his biases in an interview in Lidové noviny last week. He objected to being called a right-wing politician and said it would be difficult to find anything to support this label. Jaroslav Plesl of LN now calls Mlynář a "socialist." There's a place for socialists on the political scene, but not at the helm of an allegedly right-wing party. Ivan Pilip, a more devout right-winger who doesn't plan to run for US chair, has an image problem among voters but now seems to be his party's last hope for survival.