In a sports bar on the outskirts of the Czech capital, invectives fly when patrons are asked about their country’s scandal-ridden ruling classes.
“They are all pigs. I don’t even know if I’m going to bother voting in the next election,” says Vaclav, a heavy-set pensioner pulling on a glass of beer. “All we hear about is corruption and bureaucracy – I’ve had enough.”
His anger stems from the implosion of Czech politics following the collapse of Petr Necas’s centre-right government in a sex, bribery and spying scandal earlier this summer. The caretaker government appointed by Milos Zeman, the Czech president, has since failed to win a parliamentary vote of confidence and this week Jiri Rusnok, the interim prime minister, offered his resignation.