Final Word from Friday, June 25, 2010
Every company needs a statutory representative, and it's no different with Česká republika a.s. Miroslav Kalousek of TOP 9.1 is ready to sell his mother to become chairman of the board (and finance minister). He would be the most-powerful person in the country and, unless his authorities were trimmed, would oversee not only Temelín but also many of the dossiers dear to the Five Families. Close observers of the Czech media will have noticed a subtle shift in recent days. Coverage has drifted away from the regional "godfathers" and toward the very top layer of "byznys" - Penta's airport deals, J&T's profiteering from the D11 eminent domain, PPF's sale of a monster building to a tiny Prague 7, everybody's stake in environmental cleanup, Zdeněk Bakala's interest in sidelining ČSSD. Leeching off the public budgets is the only growth industry, and as chairman of the board, Kalousek would be the enabler.[Czech Republic KKCG RPG Vodochody]
Glossary of difficult words
to trim - to reduce the size, amount or number of;
dossier - a bundle of papers or documents referring to some matter, esp. a bundle of papers or information about a person;
Five Families - (our term) J&T, KKCG, Penta, PPF, RPG; ČEZ is not included because it is not a private entity;
to drift - to stray, digress, diverge;
to profiteer - to make or seek an excessive or unfair profit;
eminent domain - the right of a government to seize private profit for public use, with payment of compensation;
to sideline - to remove from the center of activity or attention;
to leech - to drain someone or something of money, energy, etc.;
growth industry - an industry that is growing rapidly;
enabler - someone who makes it possible for something to happen.