What exactly Jiří Pospíšil of TOP 09 was trying to achieve by offering ex-Finance Min. Miroslav Kalousek a chance to run for the Senate next year in Prague 2 isn’t clear, but the timingof it – just a few days before the government’s budget-consolidation package is announced- makes it look like a Machiavellian move. Kalousek has been toying with the idea of found-ing a new political party with emphasis on budgetary responsibility, but he has becomea sort of rebel without a cause ever since TOP 09, STAN and the Pirates took up the sametheme in earnest. An offer to run for the Senate sounds like an honor, but it’s probably morea way to blunt any move Kalousek might make against TOP 09. Other than budget respon-sibility, Kalousek’s only real political theme left is his rather furtive effort at a realignmentof tax rates for gambling/gaming to favor lotteries. If he does decide to return to politics as a TOP 09 Senate candidate or as head of a new party, it could become his Achilles heel.

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