Final Word from Wednesday, May 10, 2023
What exactly Jiří Pospíšil of TOP 09 was trying to achieve by offering ex-Finance Min. Miroslav Kalousek a chance to run for the Senate next year in Prague 2 isn't clear, but the timing of it - just a few days before the government's budget-consolidation package is announced - makes it look like a Machiavellian move. Kalousek has been toying with the idea of founding a new political party with emphasis on budgetary responsibility, but he has become a sort of rebel without a cause ever since TOP 09, STAN and the Pirates took up the same theme in earnest. An offer to run for the Senate sounds like an honor, but it's probably more a way to blunt any move Kalousek might make against TOP 09. Other than budget responsibility, Kalousek's only real political theme left is his rather furtive effort at a realignment of tax rates for gambling/gaming to favor lotteries. If he does decide to return to politics as a TOP 09 Senate candidate or as head of a new party, it could become his Achilles heel. [ Czech Republic lottery Sazka ]
Glossary of difficult words
in earnest - to a greater extent or more intensely than before;
to blunt - to weaken or reduce the force of (something);
furtive - attempting to avoid notice or attention, typically because of guilt or a belief that discovery would lead to trouble;
realignment - the action of changing or restoring something to a different or former position or state.