Who's the 'new' at Prague city hall?
Ex-CEO Martin Dvořák of DP Praha transit company said in Týden last week that he was hearing all last fall that he was a dead man. The key players had allegedly agreed to let him fall, he said, and he added that he was definitely not supposed to be the last one to meet this fate. The release yesterday by MFD of fragments of recordings between ex-Mayor Pavel Bém and lobbyist Roman Janoušek fit into this framework. Both Bém and Janoušek are already more or less dead men, but the five-year-old recordings nevertheless serve a useful purpose for the "key players." They give the impression that a real overhaul is being made at city hall - out with the old and in with the new. But this doesn't say anything about whether the new is any better than the old. Much more interesting than who was in control of Prague five years ago is the question of who is in control there now, but few in the media are asking this.
Glossary of difficult words
to overhaul - to make extensive renovations or revisions;out with the old, in with the new - an idiom meaning that the old is being replaced with the new.