Dubcek was exiled to Ankara in 1970. And if the president and his first lady have their way, Dienstbier shall be banished to Brussels in 2014

Jiri Dienstbier wants to be justice minister in the next government. Bohuslav Sobotka wants Jiri Dienstbier to be justice minister in the next government. Hundreds of thousands of Czech voters want Jiri Dienstbier to be justice minister in the next government.

But the president and his first lady do not.

Sobotka last week admitted that he is unable to secure a ministerial job for Dienstbier when Petr Necas and Miroslav Kalousek pass control over the common wealth of the country to CSSD next summer. But Sobotka could, we are told, offer Dienstbier the top place on the party candidate list for the 2014 election to the European parliament.

The cartel, personified by the new president and his first lady, want Dienstbier removed, not just from the leadership of CSSD, but from the country as well. And what better way to remove him than to offer him a sinecure in the European parliament?

It is said that the top places on the candidate list for the European parliament are auctioned by party leaders. Those who refuse to pay are simply shunted down the list, where their prospects of being elected are much less good, not least because they have to pay for their own campaigns.

In the case of Dienstbier, the price of the seat would the opportunity cost of destroying his domestic political career.

Actually, I wonder how much a seat in the European parliament costs in hard currency these days? The trafficking in European parliamentary seats is certainly common throughout the EU. The prospective parliamentary candidate invests 100 units of the local currency to secure an electable place on the list from his party leader, certain in the knowledge that he will see a return of 1000 units of Europe’s single currency over the five year election term.

When a popular but troublesome party colleague needs to be smothered, he may be offered an electable place in return for his submission. Moving to Brussels and Strasbourg will mark the effective end of his career at home –the equivalent of being posted to Ankara in 1970.

Mr Zeman and Mrs Klaus, septuagenarians whose entire careers have been proppped up by the silent support of the Communists, would love to see this young 'Red' safely settled on the Rue Wiertz in Brussels –and gradually suffocated.

With all respect to other European parliamentarians, Dienstbier would be a fool to sell his political career at such a low price and to such people.