Final Word from Thursday, April 29, 2010
With the Czech elections approaching, politicians have latched onto the idea of cleaning up the public-procurement process. ČSSD, ODS, TOP 09 and the Greens are speaking like "one man" in supporting the efforts of the Platform for Transparent Public Procurement, according to TV Nova. Some of them even want the Platform to broaden its scope to take on other pressing issues, such as campaign financing. Whether this zeal continues after the elections is yet to be seen. Conspicuously absent from the debate about reducing fraud and abuse is the European Union. It's in a unique position to put pressure on Czech officials, but reports about corruption at the regional-development ministry or at CzechInvest with regard to the disbursal of EU funds bring no visible changes. It makes one wonder how much of the EU money that is needed to bail out Greece will also go straight into someone's pocket.[Czech Republic American Chamber of Commerce]
Glossary of difficult words
when Greek meets Czech - the original expression is "when Greek meets Greek, then comes the tug of war," meaning that when two people of a similar kind are opposed, there is a struggle for supremacy;
to latch onto - to take up an idea or trend enthusiastically;
TV Nova - see the 22 min. mark;
zeal - great energy or enthusiasm in pursuit of a cause or an objective;
conspicuously - standing out so as to be clearly visible;
disbursal - the paying out of money from a fund.