IPB, Part 2

Ex-Finance Minister Ivan Pilip said in July 2000 that the takeover of IPB by ČSOB had tremendous potential to bring about a major change on the political scene. IPB represented a certain approach to the interconnection of politics and business, he said, and the takeover was in a sense an anti-ODS act. Although ČSOB succeeded in grabbing IPB with the help of Václav Havel, Zdeněk Bakala and representatives of the Czech National Bank and finance ministry, the major political change never came. With the challenge to early elections, a new opportunity has arisen, and some of the same players are in the background. Imagine what might happen if the Constitutional Court (which has assumed the role of the CNB) delayed elections until next June and successful smear campaigns were launched against ODS and ČSSD. A coalition of small parties might finally break the dominion of the two giants.