Czech press survey - Octobber 25

Perhaps the slogan still evokes the hope that the coalition government will eventually overcome the current crisis and Prime Minister Petr Necas will survive, Leschtina writes.

However, it may still happen that a group of rebels from Necas's Civic Democratic Party (ODS) will have the guts and topple the government in order to use the fear of early elections to its benefit, he adds.

In fact, the rebels have only one trump card in their hands, the fate of the tax package with which Necas has linked confidence in his government, Leschtina writes.

Everything else will depend on the national congress of the ODS that often turns into an unpredictable body in its course, he adds.

If the rebels ditch the tax legislation a few days before the congress, its delegates will be placed before a foregone conclusion as the government will have fallen, Leschtina writes.

Even if Necas eventually came to an agreement with the party rebels, what will they demand for their loyalty next? Jindrich Sidlo asks in Hospodarske noviny.

Necas spoke in a brave way when recently vowing to step down rather than depending on the unpredictable position of the guardians of the ODS's ideological legacy, Sidlo writes.

However, Necas must know that in the next elections, he will lead his party towards an unavoidable defeat, he adds.

Much will depend on how the defeat will look like and how painful it will be, Sidlo writes.

As the party leader and prime minister, Necas has the duty to keep the government afloat as long as possible. However, at his age of 50, he does not have much to fear because he can never think of any higher posts than the one he is holding now, Sidlo writes.

Necas is going into a fair battle, but he has chosen a wrong battlefield for it, Daniel Kaiser writes in Lidove noviny.

From Necas's viewpoint at least, it is true that the battle against the ODS rebels should be waged in way in which they will be routed for a long time, Kaiser writes.

However, the choice of the timing and the casus belli will remain a sign of Necas's meagre psychological and political talent even if the outcome of the battle turns out well for him, he adds.

Necas made a blunder when he linked the government's fate with such a disputable law, Kaiser writes, thus describing the package of bills on tax increase opposed by the ODS rebels.

In doing so, Necas has donated a lofty motivation to the rebels who, judging by various signs, were ready to blackmail him at any rate, he adds.

Now there is the situation in which Necas cannot outdo his mistake and in which it would be a mistake to surrender to the rebellious group, Kaiser writes.

Author: ČTK
www.ctk.cz