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A special meeting was
convened by the heads of government to discuss the situation
involving Frantiąek
Kinský, a man in his 60s with long yellow teeth and enormous
sideburns. Kinský, who has lived most of his life in Argentina,
had won his fifth court case in an attempt to recover the
property confiscated from his family after World War II.
Almost 1.5 billion Euro is at stake and Culture Minister
Pavel Dostál is determined to keep Kinský from getting
any of
it back. His ministry administers much of the property,
including the current location of the National Gallery
on Prague's historic Old Town Square. Last year the government
began returning castles and huge swaths of land to the
former nobility, among them
good friends of Dostál like Karel Schwarzenberg. At the
time there was no fear that this fat nobody from South
America would get his hands on anything because his father
was an ethnic German who had collaborated with the Nazis.
So far the courts have chosen to see it another way and
that was the gist of the meeting: how to deal with independent-minded
judges. That led one constitutional court judge to hint
that the politicians were acting like the authorities of
the former regime. Nothing was actually settled at the
meeting. The coalition partners have more pressing matters
to worry about other than whether the director of the museum,
another good friend of Dostál's, will have to start packing
soon. Their united front took a hit when Josef Hojdar abruptly
announced he would resign from his party's parliamentary
club. He denied
he had been bought off by either of the opposition parties,
although the premier had once passed on Hojdar for a cabinet
position because he was deemed too corruptible. Hojdar
did little to dispel the rumors by showing up at the Karlovy
Vary film festival as the guest of the monopoly that controls
the nation's electrical power supply. IT Minister Vladimír
Mlynář also arrived in style, at the expense of Telecom,
another monopoly and one that has a vested interest in
Mlynář's satisfaction. Mladá fronta Dnes had a
scoop on the seedy connection between the minister and
the monopoly
but quashed the story because it was a media partner of
the festival's organizers. The ethical lapse resulted in
the resignation of its most celebrated reporter, Sabina
Slonková. Last year she exposed the corrupt practices of
former Deputy Foreign Minister Karel Srba, who was just
sentenced to prison for putting out a contract on Slonková.
The tabloid Blesk also sat on a story that Vladimír
Papeľ used to visit whorehouses. Nobody knew who Papeľ
was until
he became the nominee for the justice ministry. Nor did
anyone know he had a drunk driving record, but that information
came from within his own party. With the united front crumbling,
President Klaus decided to reverse himself and veto the
bill that would raise the rates on value added tax. His
official reason for the change of heart is he wanted to
give Parliament a chance to think it over again. In fact,
he knows there's nothing to think over. Either the government
gets its public finance reforms through or it's history,
and Klaus' old party, the Civic Democrats, are poised to
take over. Another reason could be attributed to the famous
Klaus pique. The White House, still angry over his opposition
to the war in Iraq, rolled out the red carpet for Premier
©pidla during his visit to the US, whereas
Klaus was given just enough time to shake the vice-president's
hand during his earlier visit. Klaus tried to offset ©pidla's
meeting with Bush by going to France to meet with Chirac,
but even that ended on a sour note. Klaus complained the
whole time about the European Union and freely admitted
he wasn't dancing in the streets after the EU referendum
passed. One French daily was moved to write that never
was a president like Havel succeeded by one so completely
different as Klaus is. Havel's reputation is certainly
one thing the French and Americans can agree on, though.
©pidla was no more out the door when Havel walked through
to gleefully accept yet another award. He didn't linger
around because the Rolling Stones were scheduled to play
in Prague. It was a big media event, with Mick scheduled
to turn 60 years old while there. The Stones were reluctant
to play in Prague for a fourth time, but agreed to add
it to their tour at the request of Havel. The former president
appeared on stage with them and was happy to accept their
donation of $100,000 to his foundation. In return, he gave
Keith Richard a shirt with "Fuck the Commies" written
on it. Not surprisingly, it was designed by the same artist
who put up the grotesque neon heart above the Castle during
Havel's final months in office.
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