The Virtual 100 Days of Mirek Topolánek

As the media have begun to use the phrase “100 days since the first appointment of Mirek Topolánek to the office of Prime Minister”, the Government Office deems it necessary to declare that the phrase is an utterly virtual one.

It has become a custom to assess a government 100 days after its appointment. This is because the government commences its work from the moment it is appointed. As a matter of fact, however, tomorrow will be day 81, and not day 100 since the appointment of the government. The truth is that for the 19 days at issue the country was governed by the previous cabinet in demission, and it would be absurd to judge Prime Minister Topolánek for his predecessor’s work.

Even more absurd are the attempts to assess as of tomorrow the 100-day term of individual ministers as they, for the 19 days between the appointment of Mirek Topolánek to the office of Prime Minister and the appointment of the cabinet, were not ministers of the cabinet and it was uncertain that they would be appointed at all. Some of the nominees even were not known to the public.

Moreover, the question is whether there is any sense in assessing 100 days of a cabinet with respect to which all the media informed that it had only lasted for 38 days, from appointment till resignation. A summary of this period is available in the brochure “The flash administration: What Topolánek’s cabinet achieved in 38 days”. If journalists have the impression that the government did as much work in those 38 days as another would do in a 100 days, it is no doubt thanks to the fact that the government did their best to use the time as efficiently as possible.

Martin Schmarcz
Director of the Press Department of the Government