ČSSD, PPF and the real toll deadline

When TV Nova asked Bohuslav Sobotka last night if there had been any failures in his first 18 months as PM, he mentioned the highway-toll tender and said that it's been dragging out. Transport Minister Dan Ťok hasn't yet submitted a transparent plan for choosing a new operator, Sobotka said. Given that ČSSD has been rushing Ťok to issue a "technologically neutral" tender, it will be all the odder if Sobotka decides tomorrow to postpone a cabinet vote on Ťok's plan until after the one-month government holiday. Ťok has made such a good case for retaining the existing Kč 8bn toll infrastructure that Sobotka might need an extra month to make an argument for consigning it to the trash heap and giving billions to PPF to put up a new one. The putative deadline for having a new toll operator in place is Jan. 2017, but the real deadline for Sobotka is Oct. 2016, because ČSSD's campaign financing for the regional elections depends upon it.