Final Word from Monday, November 14, 2005
If Václav Klaus's comparison of the forced administrations at IPB and VZP had been fulfilled, Czechs would have woken up this morning to find their largest health insurer sold to foreigners for a crown. It didn't happen, because VZP is a public institution that can't be whisked away quite that easily. If Klaus had gone into detail, he might have claimed that both takeovers were planned in advance, that false documents or intentional runs were used to justify them, and that both were a power move by ČSSD. He could have pointed out that ČSOB's supervisory board head, Jan Švejnar, parachuted into Prague last week and verbally supported the VZP move. Klaus would have left out any talk of ODS tunneling, of course, and he certainly wouldn't have mentioned that his own comments can't help but serve the interests of the other side as the IPB arbitration enters the final phase.[Czech Republic Všeobecná zdravotní pojišťovna]