Spolu's two lame legs

Donald Trump's first ambassador to Prague, Stephen King, liked to talk about the three-legged stool of U.S.-Czech relations - friendship, security, and economic prosperity. A three-legged stool is a very stable object, he noted, but each leg is of critical importance. Without the glue, it doesn't last long. The Spolu coalition also started out as a stable three-legged stool, glued together by the fear of what another Babiš government would do for the economic prosperity of the traditional structures behind ODS, TOP 09 and KDU-ČSL. Now two of the three legs of the stool are lame. ODS Chair Petr Fiala isn't taken seriously anymore by almost anyone but himself. TOP 09 Chair Markéta Pekarová Adamová pulled out of the parliamentary elections yesterday but will still lead her party until Nov. in take-it-easy mode. Only the stalwart KDU-ČSL chair, Marek Výborný, is left to keep the stool in balance. After making things hard for Andrej Babiš in 2021, Spolu has decided to make it easy for him in 2025.