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The Czech Republic “is the land of the cockroach,“ [for Czechs a “cockroach” is a stool pigeon] announces Lidové noviny, in reference to an ongoing political scandal in the country. The affair “has assumed gigantic proportions“ with reports of secret recordings in the ranks of the Public Affairs Party (VV), a member of the ruling coalition, which has already expelled an MP accused of plotting a putsch in the VV with the support of Prime Minister Peter Nečas’ Civic Democratic Party. The latest news comes in the wake of corruption allegations against the VV’s founder Vít Bárta by the expelled MP and other party members. “Is the putsch story a hoax?” wonders the Prague daily. One thing is certain: “The suicidal government” is falling apart. “For years, Czech society has tolerated political corruption and the manner in which politicians discredited their adversaries in the media,” remarksLidové noviny. “But in the past we only saw fragments that rose to the surface, whereas now we are treated to live coverage of a society of cockroaches.”
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