Topolánek calls on Civic Democrats to stand up against party course

Former Civic Democrat chairman Mirek Topolánek has called on party members to stand up against concessions that veer from the party’s platform. In a letter to members the former prime minister criticised the party’s current leadership for accepting a seven percent tax increase on those making more than 100,000 a month, which he said was the flagship tax of all leftist, “neo-communist” movements. He added that the party offered nothing, did not have a comprehensible platform, upheld neither freedom nor capitalism and had lost and would continue to lose voters. He also criticised the party for not standing up for former Prague mayor Pavel Bém and ex-environment minister Pavel Drobil, both of whom were involved in wiretapping scandals.