Czech press survey - February 5

Zeman is giving advice on the fiscal union, government coalitions, unification of the left, he is usurping the right to dissolve the government since this is allowed by an "extensive interpretation" of the constitution, Fischer writes.

Outgoing President Vaclav Klaus has been an activist and ideological president, Zeman will be a politically hyper active and particularly extensive president: he will be extending his powers as much as possible, Fischer writes.

This starts a new type of struggle for a balance of power that politicians, citizens as well as constitutional judges will have to wage, Fischer writes.

He says the president will only be able to go as far as the others will allow him to. There is one sole limit to wilful extension - an intensive resistance.

The latest developments have shown that Czechs want "different" politicians than those they could see on the scene in the past 20 years, they want straightforward, rebellious and also younger ones, Lukas Jelinek writes in Pravo.

This is behind the popularity of Jiri Pospisil, deputy chairman of the senior government Civic Democrats (ODS), opposition Social Democrat (CSSD) deputy chairman Jiri Dienstbier and also ODS first deputy chairman Martin Kuba, who, however, rather aims inside his party, not at voters, Jelinek writes.

However, unlike the public, parties prefer more conservative criteria - loyalty, discipline, compromise, and the discrepancy is mounting: citizens want solitary players, parties want team players, Jelinek writes.

A political party that wants to succeed must be internally strong and attractive outwardly at the same time. This is what not all parties realise, Jelinek writes.

It is to be believed that president-elect Milos Zeman will apply the same pattern with which he wants to change the CNB central bank´s banking council when he is proposing new constitutional judges, and will choose experts with different intellectual backgrounds, Jana Bendova writes in Mlada fronta Dnes.

She is commenting on a recent statement by Jeronym Tejc, opposition Social Democrat (CSSD) deputy group head, in connection with the complaint about church restitution that the party wants to file with the Constitutional Court.

Tejc said he expects the judges who will be proposed by a leftist president (Zeman) and approved by the leftist Senate, to be more willing to listen to arguments [against the level of compensation for the property that cannot be returned to the churches].

The Constitutional Court is "a value court," that is it does not only read the constitution, but it interprets it, and there are different people even among judges where the value interpretation of the world is concerned, Bendova writes.

She writes that Tejc´s talk about the re-creation of the court according to the liking of the CSSD is, however, terrible. If this happened, the Constitutional Court would really become a "third house of parliament" [which outgoing President Vaclav Klasu said once], Bendova writes.

Author: ČTK
www.ctk.cz