OKD is the lesser threat

What Bohuslav Sobotka thinks about OKD, or at least says, is clear: The state simply will not pay the debts of the private owners of the mines. He has to play tough, because he is knee-deep in the mire, having sold OKD to Zdeněk Bakala far below the real value. OKD presents an immediate danger for the Ostrava area, and everyone is talking about it, but far less is being said about the greater long-term threat. The awarding of Market Economy Status to China within the WTO could cut a much greater swath by opening up the EU market to a flood of cheap Chinese goods. Miloš Zeman has made his view on this perfectly clear: He said in Týden's special China edition that awarding Market Economy Status to China is a "comical formality," because China has long been a market economy. However, the EU won't be listening to Zeman when it makes its decision, and what Sobotka thinks about Market Economy Status for China is anyone's guess.