Meet your refugee, meet your minister
The cabinet wants Czechs to get to know their local refugees. Putting a face to a story should help shatter the stereotype of all Muslims cutting people's heads off, according to State Secretary Tomáš Prouza. Families will speak about what they've been through and what they're running from, he told HN. Perhaps the cabinet should try this with its new ministers too. Before Zeman appoints someone, the candidate could tell what hardships he or she has faced. Take Prouza, for example. He's dying to be industry minister, but how many people recall that he was charged in 2007 for illegally handing out VLT gaming licenses as deputy finance minister, only to have the charges dropped later? By speaking out, he could shatter the stereotype of all deputy finance ministers being in Sazka's pocket. He was merely following the instructions of his ministers, Bohuslav Sobotka and Vlastimil Tlustý. Surely that doesn't make him a criminal for life.
Glossary of difficult words
to shatter - to destroy or demolish; to break or cause to break suddenly and violently into pieces;hardship - severe suffering or privation; misfortune;
to be in someone's pocket - to be dependent on someone financially and therefore under his or her influence.