Tanks stay to the right
EU Affairs Min. Martin Dvořák (STAN) said on OVM yesterday that motor-fuel prices will of course rise because of the Green Deal but that he doesn't know now whether it will be by two, three, five or 10 crowns per liter, but not by 30. The goal, he said, is to consume less. Yet one of the biggest increases in the 2025 national budget is for highway construction - so that we can drive our traditional vehicles even more. Defense Min. Jana Černochová (ODS), like her German counterpart, wants to deal with this paradox by counting some of the highway costs toward the 2% Nato commitment, but it isn't clear whether Nato will let them get away with it. A slick solution is staring them in the face. All new highways or lanes could be designated for now as tank-only, given that Russia won't stop in Ukraine. All of that road money could then come out of the defense budget. Once Russia is in ruins and the security threat in Europe subsides, the lanes can be reclassified as EV-only. Who could argue with that?
Glossary of difficult words
slick - done or operating in an impressively smooth and efficient way; smooth and superficially impressive but insincere or shallow;
to be staring someone in the face - used to refer to something that should be apparent;
to subside - to become less intense, violent or severe;
EV - electric vehicle.