Babiš plots with his bankers

Andrej Babiš met last week with the local heads of Česká spořitelna, ČSOB, Komerční banka and UniCredit. "Look, guys," he might have said (we weren't there). "You know why I've called you in. I'm one of your biggest clients. I've got Kč 3.4bn from Erste, Kč 1.8bn from Čobka, Kč 3.5bn from Komerčka and Kč 3.0bn from UniCredit. That's 33% of my loans, and I'll need more when Grässle cuts off my EU subsidies. You want me to squash the sector tax that the silly Socialists are talking about, but I need to win these EU elections. I like what Macron's doing. His idea for a new European Climate Bank is crazy, but he's being intentionally vague about it. Something about not wanting to be locked into a pre-defined framework before the elections. Clever man. I can do the same thing with my National Development Fund. I'll be fuzzy about putting 10-20% of your dividends into it. Then after the elections, I'll find a way to blame ČSSD for killing it off. Now what do I get for this?"