![]() ![]() ![]() I have not deviated from my values and I do not plan on doing so in the future. Politics is and always will be a service to the public, and as such, it should be done honestly and honorably in order to earn the people's trust. It was not for personal gain or to improve my social status. I got into politics because I wanted to make a change. Can you even uphold the Boy Scouts code and morale in politics? But "politics" makes people think quite the opposite. He said he would call the first session of the new parliament after the maximum 30 days allowed by the constitution, to provide time for coalition talks.When you say "Boy Scouts", people tend to think of words like honor, truthfulness, morale, etc. President Zeman said he would meet Babis today to discuss the next steps but suggested the formal appointment would happen later. The make-up of the cabinet will influence the country’s tone in the EU, but unlike Poland’s leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski or Hungary’s Viktor Orban, Babis does not share the anti-liberal stance that has driven Warsaw and Budapest into deep spats with Western partners. His conditions for talks would be a tough stance against immigration, a ban on promoting Islam and a referendum on leaving the European Union, he said. SPD chief Tomio Okamura said Babis should stay out of the cabinet if he were to consider support. The liberal Pirate Party, which came third in the election, also said Babis’s charges were obstacle to any co-operation.īabis has promised to stay out of the eurozone and pressure the European Union to counter immigration, but also to keep the country firmly in the EU and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato).īut a refusal by mainstream parties to work with ANO could lead Babis to turn to the Communists and the anti-EU, anti-immigration Freedom and Direct Democracy party (SPD) for political support. The centrist Christian Democrats, the third current coalition partner, also made any potential support conditional on Babis not being in the government. The centre-left Social Democrats of outgoing Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka, who won just 7.3% of the vote, said they may enter talks with ANO, their current coalition partner, but only if Babis personally stays out of the cabinet. “Democratic forces got trounced but they will not regain strength by co-operation with Babis. “I can’t legitimise him and create the appearance of normality,” said Jan Farsky, election leader for STAN. Two small centre-right parties, STAN and TOP09, also said they would not work with Babis. “I have already ruled out talks with ANO on taking part in a government or supporting a government,” party chief Petr Fiala said on news website. The centre-right Civic Democrats, who came second in the election with 25 seats, said they would remain in opposition. He moved his chemicals, food and media firms to a trust earlier this year when he held the job of finance minister, to meet conflict of interest legislation. Police allege Babis hid ownership of one of his firms a decade ago to receive a €2mn euro EU subsidy that was meant for small businesses. Opponents see Babis, worth an estimated $4bn, as a danger to democracy because of his leadership style and business and media power that they fear could pose conflicts of interest. “My aim is that when I appoint the prime minister, and that will be Andrej Babis, that there is certainty or at least high probability that this prime minister will be successful in a parliamentary vote of confidence,” Zeman said in a live interview on news website ANO will control 78 seats in the 200-seat lower house so still needs partners from the other eight factions to form a majority, but Babis’s stance as an anti-establishment force has made it difficult to forge alliances. Zeman said that the charges were not an obstacle for Babis – the second richest Czech who has been compared to other tycoons-turned-political leaders Donald Trump and Silvio Berlusconi – to become prime minister. Czech President Milos Zeman said yesterday that he would name Andrej Babis prime minister, but the tycoon leader of the anti-establishment ANO party may struggle to find coalition partners despite his emphatic election win.ĪNO won 29.6% of the vote at the weekend’s polls, nearly three times as much as its closest rival, but many parties expressed reluctance or rejected outright any coalition with it while Babis fights off fraud charges. ![]()
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