Left takes Senate

"A left-wing Senate. But what will it change?" wonders the front page of Mladá Fronta DNES, in the wake of the second round of elections to the Czech Senate. In fact, "not much," concludes the daily: even if the Social Democratic Party now has a majority (41 from a total of 81 seats) in the upper house of parliament, "its chances of effectively thwarting the government" — the centre-right coalition which is preparing to introduce austerity measures — "remain limited." As the Prague newspaper explains, the senate "has no hope of blocking reforms if they are supported by a solid majority in the lower house." But it will be able to delay the “painful” measures by several few weeks.