The Senate yesterday refused to discuss a draft amendment to the Commercial Code that was approved by the lower chamber. The Senate, which is controlled by the opposition Four-Party Coalition, says that the lower chamber’s decision on the amendment, which restored the government’s ability to waive post-privatization buyout obligations, is unconstitutional. It is a complicated constitutional and procedural situation, but we believe that, in the end, the amendment will be upheld will restore the government’s ability to waive buyout obligations, i.e.we do not expect the tender winners in CEZ, Unipetrol and Cesky Telecom privatizations to face buyout obligations, and we believe that this is the market consensus, too.
(Ondrej Datka)