Final Word from Monday, September 12, 2016

There's a degree of irony to it when Andrej Babiš chooses Týden magazine to make his first public claim that ČSSD tried from the very beginning to give the toll contract to SkyToll. The new vice chair of Týden's publishing company, Empresa Media, is Jaroslav Tvrdík of CEFC. That Chinese company owns not only 49% of Empresa, but also 10% of J&T Finance Group. And J&T is the official owner of SkyToll. So it's all one big happy family. Well, not so happy, now that the toll contract has again gone to Kapsch. By accusing ČSSD of trying to give the deal to SkyToll, Babiš is merely saying what everyone in business already knows. It's different, though, when it's stated by the finance minister and first vice PM. Babiš is essentially accusing his senior coalition partner of a criminal conspiracy. His real message, though, is that if ČSSD plans to go after his livelihood by tinkering with the conflict-of-interest law, he'll go after ČSSD's livelihood as well. [Czech Republic highway tolls]