Czech press survey - September 26

He writes that if the reform is abolished, the CSSD, when it assumes power sometime in the future, will have to act very resolutely on pensions.

It will probably have to sharply raise retirement age, and it will have no one to help it, Machacek writes.

The same goes for VAT rates. It can be rightfully doubted that the CSSD would be able to eliminate overnight the waste of public money or that it would win the struggle with tax evasion, Machacek writes.

He writes that when the CSSD rules the country, it will need an increase in VAT and could be glad if someone had done it for it.

Klaus definitely does not help the Social Democrats. Under the slogan "the worse, the better," Klaus is helping presidential candidate Milos Zeman who probably has the biggest potential of profiting from chaos and dissatisfaction, Machacek writes.

Zeman used to be CSSD chairman, but he has left the party and is now trying to lure voters away from it.

Tuesday´s statement by the government TOP 09 that it will leave the government unless Prime Minister Petr Necas has enough votes to push through a pension reform and higher VAT may mean that TOP 09 deputy chairman and Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek is preparing an elegant way out from the government, Daniel Kaiser writes in Lidove noviny.

He writes that the charm of party chairman and Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg is fading away and the party´s voter support has dropped by a half since the 2010 elections. The latest CVVM poll put it at 8.5 percent, Kaiser writes.

If TOP 09´s strategists think about how this trend may develop, it would not be nonsensical to wish that general elections be held as soon as possible until the party´s voter preferences still keep above the 5 percent parliamentary barrier, Kaiser writes.

The Communists´s voter preferences are rising, the Czech right must be rejoicing because this will allow it to play its favourite "red danger" card to which it regularly resorts at the moment when it has no better election theme, Jindirch Sidlo writes elsewhere in Hospodarske noviny.

He writes that thanks to the rising support, the Communists might even win some regions for the first time in the October regional elections. But is this the above mentioned threat?

Yes, it is, but not that much for the right, but rather for Social Democrats (CSSD), Sidlo writes.

The right can undoubtedly contribute to the KSCM´s success, but only if it "succeeds" in discouraging enough of its voters from going to the polls at all, Sidlo writes.

He says the Communists´ self-confidence is undoubtedly mounting. "The times when they supported us in anything and for free are definitely over," Sidlo quotes a leading CSSD politicians as saying in a debate on future developments.

This is a precise description of the situation. The price is rising, and it will be the CSSD who will be paying, Sidlo writes.

Author: ČTK
www.ctk.cz