A cool '1' for Síkela

Industry Min. Jozef Síkela (STAN) has never been very popular within ODS, but suddenly he's its favorite to become EU commissioner. MP Marek Benda said that he considers Síkela's to be a strong name. One theory, as explained a year ago by István Léko of LN, is that ODS wants the industry ministry for itself and could enter into a swap for it with STAN. Another theory is that ODS actually wants the seat on the EU Commission but knows that it has to honor the promise to let PirStan make the initial nomination. Once STAN puts up Síkela, as it did yesterday along with Danuše Nerudová, ODS can always count on Andrej Babiš to shoot him down. "Is it true that you're going to get a '1' for the Net4Gas deal?" Babiš asked Síkela in Parliament late last year. "And that Radek Pokorný will get a '1'? One billion, that is. One billion." Ouch. If ODS plays its cards right, it can leave everything to Babiš and the media ... and maybe even end up getting both the EU Commission and the industry ministry.