Czech press survey - October 20

Klaus has also proved this when he said he is sad about that those who lost the regional elections and will also lose the Senate elections have not clearly admitted it, Kaiser writes.

He says Prime Minister Petr Necas and ODS chairman Petr Necas has admitted defeat, but in his usual wishy-washy manner.

Kaiser writes that asking the head of a political party to start blaming himself for a defeat just before the second round of the Senate election is not a well-meant piece of advise.

If Necas did it, the rebellious ODS lawmakers would have been doing nothing during this week but talking about that self-criticism is still insufficient and that they must eventually take an action, Kaiser writes.

The Czech Republic said well ahead of the EU making the final decision on the banking union it will apply its right to veto unless the elements that it believes may threaten it are removed, but in a way it acted belatedly, Michal Mocek writes in Pravo.

He says the Czechs are the sole country seeking guarantees under the threat of veto. True, the country cooperates with the Danish and Swedes, but this need not be enough.

In the EU it is always better if a larger group of countries backs a demand. Czech diplomacy still (only) has two months to secure a broader coalition in support of its stand, Mocek writes.

Unless it succeeds, it will face the tight formation of southern countries that are playing for a awful lot. Spain, Italy and others will hardly be ready to allow a few small countries blocking their way towards salvation with a veto or otherwise, Mocek writes.

The rate of incompetence of some Czech outgoing ministers starts to be tiresome, sociologist Jan Keller writes elsewhere in Pravo on Labour and Social Affairs Minister Jaromir Drabek´s (TOP 09) proposal that the incomes of the offspring of the seniors living alone and receiving housing benefits should be checked.

Keller writes that the overburdened and reduced offices will be assigned another duty - finding out whether an offspring of an elderly woman living alone is not by chance a millionaire.

¨True, the search may expose well-earning sons and daughters who are forgetting about their parents. But if Drabek´s ministry were at least a little bit interested in how society that it manages works, it would find out that the search in this direction does not simply pay (Drabek spoke about some 20,000 such cases), Keller writes.

Many studies show that social problems do not have an individual, but group character, meaning that poverty usually affects whole families and that it is usually inherited, Keller writes.

Besides, it is known that assistance within the family is not provided according to the needs of its members, but according to the family´s wealth, Keller writes.

Author: ČTK
www.ctk.cz