Since the elections of May 2010, in which the VV obtained over 10% of the vote, Bárta's party has become a “symbol of decline” in Czech politics, notes the Prague economic daily. However, “Vít Bárta and his political group are not the root of evil in Czech politics, just a product of the system that was shaken this Friday, but whose base remains solid”. The VV party is “one of the most bizarre examples of the local political scene” and “their tragicomic and sometimes very dangerous methods excel in their amateurish directness”.

Hospodářské Noviny argues that that corruption practised by other Czech politicians is much more sophisticated and inventive, and therefore less liable to prosecution. “If they went in front of a court, the whole political system would collapse”, it notes, nevertheless adding that the Bárta trial is a big step for the country’s young democracy.

The scandal involves the influential and controversial businessman and lobbyist Roman Janoušek and ODS politician Pavel Bém, whose telephone conversations were recorded in 2007 while he was mayor of Prague. Obtained two years later by the anti-corruption politician Vít Bárta, the wiretaps are being scrutinised by the police. Published in the media, they have exposed the enormous influence Janoušek wielded over the Prague mayor.

“The web of relationships they built up around themselves was not limited solely to the Czech capital, but played a major role in the privatisation of the country in the 2000s,” notes Hospodářské Noviny. The newspaper even compares the action of the two men to that of Mafia clans that divvy up business turf in the The Godfather.

Following the media publication of the conversations between Bém and Janoušek, the latter was in a car accident. Escaping the scene, he knocked down the other driver, a woman aged 51. When he was arrested by the police minutes later, Janoušek had 2.2 g of alcohol in his blood.

“It's a sad movie about the former mayor and the lobbyist. Their story goes beyond any scenario we could dream up,” writes Slovak daily SME. According to the Bratislava paper, the Bém-Janoušek scandal is a Czech version of “Gorilla” scandal that brought down Slovakia’s conservatives in the most recent elections.

But there’s a problem with this, the Hamburg daily writes. On days of strong wind the north-south energy grid is saturated and the excess electricity is automatically shunted east, into Poland and the Czech Republic. The excess power, however, overloads those countries’ grids, which were designed for stable and continuous currents. Poland is therefore considering installing “phase shifters” at the border to turn back the electricity it does not need. If that were to happen the Germans would have to put some of their wind turbines on hold and, to fill the energy gap in the south, import nuclear energy from France.

The problem will get worse if the Czech Republic follows the example of Poland to protect its domestic grid, writes the FTD. For now, though, this small country, which is one of the major energy exporters to the rest of the EU, plans to invest 2.5 billion euros to upgrade its own network.

The recordings were mysteriously leaked in 2009 to the private security agency ABL, which belonged at the time to Vít Bárta, leader of the Věci Veřejné [Public Affairs, VV] party. After a campaign that focused on the fight against corruption, Bárta won a breakthrough that led him to join the government in 2010. However, he was forced to resign from his post as minister in April 2011 after his party was caught up in another wiretapping and corruption scandal. During his trial, which opened on March 5, it turned out that his campaign had been financed by – none other than Janoušek.

According to Prague daily, which leads on the front page with the headline “The secret calls of Pavel B.”, the conversations bear witness to the “primitive conditions” prevailing at Prague City Hall and show that Janoušek, who is also wanted in Switzerland for money-laundering, maintained “close relations” with City Hall officials. With the latter he “jointly decided on the most important topics: local urban development plan, land sales, commercial activities of City Hall businesses and the human resources policy.”

“The position of Prime Minister Petr Nečas, according to which the budget pact benefits none of us, sums up our position towards the Union: take but do not give,” Tomáš Sedláček writes. Yet, he notes that -

After 1989, Czechoslovakia, followed by the two states which emerged from it, had a single international priority: to get out of the ‘zone’, away from what was left after the implosion of the USSR. We joined the OECD, NATO and the EU to clearly signify on which side we belonged.

But for another economist, Pavel Kohout, also writing in Hospodářské Noviny, the Czech “no” to European budget regulations does not represent a risk to the country. “The treaty does not solve any of the issues linked to the euro crisis,” he argues, adding that it “may help to smooth the way for fiscal harmonisation”. But, while this might be appropriate for France and Germany, harmonisation would be devastating for Czech competitiveness.

Quietly trotting with the herd means paying for the errors of others, such as French or German bankers, for example. Only those that create problems have anything to gain.

Foreign Affairs Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, who backs the budget pact, for his part warned that the Czech Republic is making a strong bid for marginalisation but could still reverse its decision later this year or next year.

According to the daily, data from a poll of 500 people in three regions – Upper Austria, Lower Austria and Burgenland – demonstrates that the opening of borders, 20 years ago, is no longer perceived as a blow to stability in the country.

Tourism and trade have done much to improve cross-border relations, with “residents of neighbouring regions in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary mainly crossing the border to shop. The increase in trade has helped boost purchasing power in economically weak areas of Eastern Austria, and it is therefore not surprising that the local population feels that it has had a positive impact on the Labour market: 48% of those polled in Upper Austria, 40% in Burgenland, 36% in the area of Lower Austria next to Slovakia and 34% in the area of Lower Austria next to the Czech border remarked on “positive change” in the labour market.

The only negative point highlighted by the survey was a perception that crime prompted by more contact with the East is on the increase: an impression that Die Presse points out is not confirmed by the statistics.

The Prague daily does not believe that the Brussels summit has prompted a division in Europe, but instead argues that the event has highlighted “different points of view on integration that will allow everyone to take up a position of their choosing.” As it stands -

... the Czech Republic will not be seated at the round table, or in the anteroom (...). It prefers to “listen” through the walls of a minuscule room, from which it will be difficult to influence the course of events in Europe.

Václav Havel lived in truth against ubiquitous conformism and hypocrisy. He was a writer and a dissident; he was active in the opposition and wrote plays and essays. He brought these together almost perfectly. [...] He mused (in 1983) about the nature of dissident writers. And he reflected that they are only people who say out loud what everybody else knows, but dares not speak out loud. 'Dissidents', although the mere thought that they can be the nation’s conscience seems unbearable to them, speak for those who remain silent. They risk their lives where others dare not. [...] The life and legacy of Václav Havel are the synthesis of humility and pride, relentless heroism with self-deprecation. He was free of conceit, hatred and fanaticism. Rebellious against the dictatorships and the stereotypes of his era, he was constantly at odds with the conformism of his fellow countrymen.

Writing in Adevărul, Grigore Cartianu says that with Václav Havel's death, "the continent is sadder, the winter more grey". The editor-in-chief of the Bucharest daily regrets that Romanians didn't have the luck to have a luminous figure like Havel:

In 2002, when I heard that Havel had called the Rolling Stones to Prague to celebrate Mick Jagger's birthday, I suddenly remembered that in 1990, Ion Iliescu [the first post-communist president] had called miners to Bucharest [to repress demonstrations against the new regime]. Two presidents, two philosophies.

From Berlin, Der Tagesspiegel notes that Havel -

... had a sustainable influence on the geopolitical situation of his country and of Central and Eastern Europe. [...] But he also supported the participation of the leaders of those countries in the war on Iraq led by the United States [in 2003], which raised many a hackle. He was a statesman that could always astonish by his comments and his extraordinary turnarounds. [...] Germans in particular must remember him thankfully because he committed himself like no other to German-Czech reconciliation. Barely elected president, he surprised his compatriots and the German Federal Republic in a strong manner that allowed the man of theatre to show through. He made two official visits on the same day to (East) Berlin and to Munich, thus linking in a single gesture [...] two traumatising dates for the Czechs: in the morning Berlin - where Hitler had forced the Czech minister-president to capitulate and in the afternoon, Munich - where the 1938 pact was signed that signified the end of a free Czechoslovakia and the beginning of the war.

Historian Timothy Garton Ash writing in The Guardian, calls Václav Havel "the main character in a play that changed history". He adds that -

Havel was a defining figure of late 20th-century Europe. He was not just a dissident; he was the epitome of the dissident, as we came to understand that novel term. He was not just the leader of a velvet revolution; he was the leader of the original velvet revolution, the one that gave us a label applied to many other non-violent mass protests since 1989.

Headlining "The Dissident," French daily Libération quotes Milan Kundera who said that "the best work of Václav Havel is his life":

With a handful of dissidents, he shared the notion of 'living within a lie' against propaganda, re-invented 'power for the powerless' and sent communism to the museum of lost illusions. To the ethics of conviction, Havel linked the principle of responsibility: the 'dissident' became a 'decider'. He assumed the power that fate conferred on him and refused the status of victim. Barely elected, it was amazing to hear him tell his fellow citizens that all of them, albeit at various levels, had 'co-created and maintained the totalitarian system'. In these times of revolutions and of feverish transformations, that is another lesson on which to meditate from this philosopher-president: Havel refused the disorder of score-settling and the hazards of street justice. [...] These are the conditions needed for the seeds of democracy to take root.

Writing in Italian daily La Repubblica, leader writer Sandro Viola, who met with Havel before the fall of communism, renders homage to the memory of the last of the 'moralistic' political leaders.

Indeed, it was only he who could have incarnated the role of a new model statesman, a statesman who gains power not just with partisan interests, personal ambition, the ability to manoeuvre politically but also a broader vision of the world, a more noble one than what we can detect among European leaders.

Steven Samyn of De Morgen writes in a leader article that a “little bit of Havel in the Wetstraat [where the Belgian government sits] wouldn't hurt”. He notes that ‘Citizen Havel’, a documentary made by a filmmaker friend, shows how Czech politics, after the collapse of communism, lost its innocence and slid into cynical party intrigues -

But it also shows a modest man who stayed true to his principals, even when they were out of fashion. He continued to take a stand in favour of the gypsies, although this meant political suicide.

In the light of  current debate on the issue of European integration in the Czech Republic, columnist Martin Ehl points to the risk that a majority in the country may favour the eurosceptic position  of President Václav Klaus. However, the interests of the country, which is economically reliant on Germany, will be best served by “being present, not rocking the boat, and remaining close to the source of information,” remarks Ehl.

“Sooner or later, the economic reality will convince Czech politicians to rethink their ‘euro-prudent’ attitude. There will no longer be any possibility of continuing as a stowaway, who takes advantage of whatever he or she wants: the Czech Republic will either have to face political and economic isolation like Hungary (...) or climb on board the train of Europe’s future prosperity.”

The measure has been announced at a time when Moody’s is re-evaluating its outlook for Austrian debt, which currently holds a precious AAA rating that Vienna is determined to keep. In its editorial, the Viennese daily worries about a possible “state bankruptcy caused by banks along the lines of the Irish model,” because, “in the wake of several gold-rush years,” Austrian banks have 300 billion euros – more than the country’s GDP – in Central and Eastern Europe, and an estimated 6% to 40% of this is invested in toxic assets.

“The National Bank of Austria’s decision will end one phase of the ongoing crisis and probably introduce another,” points out România libera in Bucharest:

The concrete effects will be severe – additional pressure on the leu, rising interest rates, and state borrowing difficulties – but these can be overcome. However, on a symbolic level it will be even more serious because we have been forced to acknowledge that Romania is now viewed as an emerging country offering significant profits associated with a high level of risk that is still a good destination for investors, but only if they already have a predefined exit strategy.

The Bucharest daily looks back on the high times of 2007, when “Greek and Austrian bankers were competing to be present in the Wild East,” which are now over: “Austria has sacrificed Romania, where it owns more than half of the banking system along with Greece, to save itself.” In short, this is “the tragic end of financial colonialism.”

In the Czech Republic, Respekt fears that –

... countries like Hungary, Romania, Serbia and Ukraine will be forced to contend with a sudden credit crunch, at least with regard to Austrian banks, who will be reluctant to lend.

The Prague daily notes that Czech Republic and Slovakia will also suffer, because the international press often overlooks the fact that their situation is very different to the one in other countries of the region: “there are a lot of savers in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, which are both relatively under-leveraged. And this applies not only to major corporations […] but more importantly to the small business sector. For example, mortgage loans in these countries amount to 25% of GDP, whereas in Western Europe this figure stands at 55%, and at more than 100% of GDP in the UK.”

The Czech Republic, on the other hand, seems headed towards more flexible legislation. The Health Ministry announced that it is preparing a drug law that would allow marijuana to be considered as a medical drug. It could be prescribed to those with serious health conditions; those undergoing chemotherapy, or suffering from multiple sclerosis or a terminal illness, for example. "The marijuana will be cultivated by the State or imported from abroad," says Czech daily MF Dnes, explaining that the hemp could be cultivated directly by the State or by private establishments under licence. It could also be imported from the Netherlands, which, due to current legislation, is the most probable solution. It remains to be seen, the paper notes, how the new "medicine" will be made available only in pharmacies and via medical prescription and not on the black market.

Andrej Babiš calls for the creation of a new ‘Civic Platform’, a reference to the movement for democracy in 1989, “to clean up this environment,” explains Hospodářské noviny. And he is not alone: “A group of business men in the country is preparing to invest in the campaign to fight a corrupt system, which includes the police and judiciary,” notes the daily, which cites the example of the anti-corruption fund created by Karel Janeček, the boss of RSJ Algorithmic Trading.

Those are some of the readings of the times emerging from the book 1968: as the Russians Saw It, edited by the Czech historian Josef Pazderka, which is giving the Czechs their first glimpse of how the Soviets saw the Prague Spring and its abrupt conclusion. “Today, it’s not about demonising Russia,” writes Euroskop, “but it’s best to remain cautious towards a country that remains incapable of reflecting on the occupation of 1968. Even among the Russian intelligentsia, the myth that Czechoslovakia was rescued from a second German aggression continues to find fertile ground.”

The daily Mladá fronta DNES reveals in turn that parts of Soviet society, notably intellectuals and dissidents, followed the events in Czechoslovakia in 1968 closely in the hope that the Prague Spring would spread to the USSR. “For them,” writes the Prague daily, “the military intervention marked the ideological break with the Communist system.”

The Bátora affair bears a marked resemblance to a similar incident in Italy: the Minister of Federal Reforms, Northern League leader Umberto Bossi, recently prompted an outcry in the Italian press when he described the minister for public adminstration, Renato Brunetta, as a "ball-breaking dwarf."