ODS gets Real

Unrepentant Euroskeptics will be on their own after ODS's party congress tomorrow. ODS wants to ratify the EU's new Lisbon reform treaty and, to do so, it will first rescind a party resolution from last year that prohibits it from agreeing to transfer any more national powers to Brussels. ODS has gone from being the opposition party that built its comeback partly on harsh criticism of the EU to becoming the ruling party that toes the EU line. It's Realpolitik in action, according to MEP Jan Zahradil of ODS. Sometimes you can only push so far, he told Rádio Česko. These are remarkable words from someone who had criticized then-Chief EU Negotiator Pavel Telička for giving away the farm in the pre-accession talks. What can "betrayed" ODS voters do now? Not much. They can punish ODS by voting for an even more EU-friendly party; or they too can get Real (with the accent on the "a").