Tale of two professors

Prof. Jan Švejnar is increasingly being mentioned as the anti- Klaus candidate, but Švejnar himself says that no one has asked him to run and that he isn't considering it. Švejnar rightly understands that his name is mainly being used to spite Klaus. Švejnar is one of those experts who so irritate Prof. Klaus by parachuting into town. Petr Uhl of Právo put a new twist on a Švejnar run by writing today that Green Chair Martin Bursík might half-heartedly back Švejnar as a way to give his party's indirect support to Klaus. It's unlikely, though, that it will reach this point. Švejnar is a professor at the Univ. of Michigan, but he's also head of ČSOB's supervisory board. His candidacy would reopen the issue of the "daylight robbery" of IPB, which Klaus fervently opposed. ČSOB is reopening the issue itself by filing an arbitration case against the CR, but that's mainly about money. ČSOB isn't going to want to give Klaus any reason to get politically nasty. [Czech Republic university Green Party Investiční a poštovní banka]