China's Czech connection

Nearly every time a reporter puts a microphone in front of Miloš Zeman, he repeats his story about how the fourth-richest man in China plans to spend Kč 38bn in the CR. Journalists being who they are (to borrow from Zeman's phraseology), they never ask whether this Chinese entrepreneur has already put his money where his mouth is. J&T returned from China in Oct. with a signed agreement on "strategic collaboration" with CEFC China Energy Company, owned by China's fourth-richest man, but no one has yet said what form this collaboration will take. It's logical therefore to ask whether CEFC is "strategically collaborating" on EPH's acquisition of seven fossil-fuel power plants in Italy. Daniel Křetínský of EPH is taking a huge bet that Europe will start paying to have capacity ready to fill the gaps left by renewable energy, in which case his fossil-fuel plants would become gold mines. The question for the EU Commission is whether it wants China's fourth-richest man, with Křetínský as his stooge, lobbying Brussels to pay these capacity market subsidies.