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Wednesday, May 10, 2000
Gross, 30, once dubbed the "crown prince" of the Social Democratic Party (CSSD) by Prime Minister Milos Zeman, has a potentially golden political future -- provided he performs well as head of the ministry that was synonymous with fear in communist Czechoslovakia. He faces a series of challenges as interior minister, including reform of the country's public administration, police and security forces, as well as implementation of European Union norms into the Czech legal system. But his biggest test may be how he handles both the protesters and the police at the summit. Recent summits in Washington, D.C., and Seattle were marked by violent clashes between foes of economic globalization and security forces. Should that happen in Prague, where a "counter summit" is to be staged by some of the estimated 20,000 protesters expected to hit the Czech capital, Gross' ambition to become CSSD chairman next year could be in vain. Zeman is due to relinquish the party helm at next year's CSSD congress. "As minister, Gross bears a great risk," the daily Zemske noviny recently wrote. "Every risk is visible in the post, while so far he has maintained popularity by not making controversial decisions. If Gross fails, Zeman will sacrifice him with pleasure." Gross, who recently finished law school, is often called a leader of an anti-Zeman bloc in the CSSD that includes Petra Buzkova, who resigned as the party's deputy chairwoman over the way Zeman conducted his Cabinet reshuffle last month. His rival for the top party post is likely to be Labor and Social Affairs Minister Vladimir Spidla, whom Zeman would like to succeed him as chairman. Gross took over the ministry last month after Vaclav Grulich lost the job in the controversial reshuffle. But Gross insured himself against any political damage by making his appointment conditional on being named deputy party chairman. He wears his ambition like a well-tailored suit. "I had to consider my long-term priorities," he told The Prague Post. "I want to prevent myself from a loss of political influence within the CSSD after leaving the executive field." But despite specializing in security issues since becoming the country's youngest member of Parliament in 1992 at the age of 23, Gross has raised eyebrows for both his talk and his actions with respect to policing protesters. In mid-April, he was taken to task by some commentators after saying on television that he hoped police would be "harsh enough" with rowdy protesters at the summit, adding it would not be difficult to "show muscle" to skinheads. "But President Clinton already found out in Seattle that the police cannot manage things so easily," Czech daily Lidove noviny commented recently. "It is necessary to start thinking about how not to make the opponents of destroying tropical rainforests into your angry enemies before they get here." Despite such caveats, the usually soft-spoken Gross flunked his first policing quiz as minister, according to the government Human Rights Council and its chairman, Petr Uhl. The council has asked Gross to explain the police's behavior after the arrest of 53 Czech anarchists following a peaceful May Day rally in Prague. The rally was unauthorized because protesters had turned in their application late, but Uhl called the police action "brutal" and asked Gross to prove that "the dignity of the persons detained" had not been violated. A day later, on May 5, Gross hedged his bets. Suddenly, talk of police being "harsh enough" was gone as Gross announced that the state of Czech preparations for the summit were inadequate. "Coordination among the individual state institutions that are taking part in preparations for the IMF meeting is not appropriate," he told reporters after meeting President Vaclav Havel. Gross added that he was taking steps to improve the situation, including the establishment of a coordinating group to begin work immediately. Havel himself has said he would like to work for a dialogue between protesters and representatives of non-governmental groups and officials of the IMF and World Bank. Gross, who has said he wants to learn from the experience of recent summits, appears to have embraced that message. "We want opponents to have a dialogue with participants, and the president wants a dialogue as well," said Interior Ministry spokesman Jan Decker, adding that some 11,000 police officers would be on hand at the summit. "Police work within the law," he said, "and when somebody kicks a policeman from behind, then the officer is obliged to react accordingly." Winning the middle class Observers note that Gross' polite and upbeat demeanor distinguishes him from Zeman, who in the past has not hesitated to loudly insult political foes or the media. They say his fresh style could attract more moderate voters in the next general election in 2002. "Does Gross, a future candidate for the CSSD chairmanship, govern to the satisfaction of the middle class?" Alexandr Mitrofanov asked in a recent commentary in the left-leaning daily Pravo. An orderly IMF-World Bank summit could help answer that question as Gross, among the most popular politicians in polls, grapples with his new responsibilities. "I am either capable of managing this ministry and have a political future," he said. "Or I am not, and should thus have no ambitions." Jeffrey Donovan's e-mail address is jdonovan@praguepost.cz
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