Worst of both worlds

In rejecting the idea of an ODS-ČSSD opposition agreement in June, Jiří Paroubek told Czech Radio it's never good when two megaparties dominate and the others watch on. It leads to an inability of the public to keep the parties in check, he said. By reaching a "breakthrough" deal yesterday, ODS and ČSSD came close to just such a set-up. They will divide up power in the name of stability, as the CR heads into the EU presidency in 2009. The public and the business community might be willing to tolerate some cross-party quid pro quos if progress were made on the big issues. However, the refusal of ODS and ČSSD to take preventative action on two key pieces of legislation, sickness insurance and the labor code, suggests that Czechs will get the worst of both worlds: Not only (to use Vladimír Špidla's phrase) a "hotbed of clientelism and corruptive tendencies," but also reform gridlock. [Czech Republic grand coalition European Union]