Taunting the business vote

The latest STEM and Kantar CZ polls released yesterday turned out overall much better for the Spolu parties than last week's Median survey, but KDU-ČSL is still languishing in the 2-4% range. Newly elected Chair Marek Výborný, who is also agriculture minister, told Právo that the ruling coalition must make it clear to its voters what it's able to achieve before next year's elections and what won't be possible and why. And a reasonable voter will understand this, he said, and will get up off the couch and go vote. In terms of policy items, he mentioned pension reform, the forestry law, the Green Deal and the hunting law, but he skipped over four that are of big concern to business voters. His KDU colleague Environment Min. Petr Hladík is intent on pushing through the deposits on PET bottles, Culture Min. Martin Baxa of ODS doesn't think democracy can survive without raising the public-media fees, NÚKIB is pressing ahead with the cybersecurity law, and the new online building-permit system has been delayed until 2028. It's almost as if Výborný and his cabinet colleagues are testing business voters to see how much they can take.