Czech President Petr Pavel today appointed a new government led by billionaire Andrej Babiš, leader of the populist ANO party in a coalition with the radical right, the Freedom and Direct Democracy party and the conservative Eurosceptic party Motoristi sebi.
In the parliamentary elections on October 3 and 4, the coalition parties won a comfortable majority of 108 out of 200 members of the House of Representatives.
For tycoon Babiš, who, in order to avoid a conflict of interest, had to give up his business empire, the Agrofert concern, this is the third government, after two in the previous parliamentary term from 2017 to 2021. At 71 years old, he is the oldest prime minister to have led the Czech Republic or Czechoslovakia, and he is also the richest Czech prime minister.
The new government has 16 members, including the prime minister, ANO has eight ministers, the radical nationalists have sent three experts to the government, not their own politicians, while the Motorists have four ministries. President Pavel refuses to appoint the honorary president of the Motorists, influencer Filip Turek, as Minister of the Environment due to his numerous scandals and previous racist and neo-Nazi comments on social media.
President Pavel appealed to Babiš and his government to be a government that unites, rather than causes divisions in society in these turbulent times, and to responsibly approach the fact that the security of the Czechs is also guaranteed by their country's membership in international organizations.
"The country would undoubtedly not be safer if it were not in NATO, it would not prosper economically if it were not in the European Union. Membership should be approached with maximum responsibility, to be constructive members, and not just reject everything," said Pavel.
Petr Pavel said that he would like to see Babiš's government not necessarily agree with everything that comes from the EU, but instead of rejecting it, define in advance what the Czech interest is and constructively propose solutions.
As soon as Pavel appointed him as prime minister last week, while he still did not have a government, Babiš rushed to Brussels where he met with the President of the European Commission and other senior officials.
In the government, foreign policy, primarily European affairs and relations with the US, will be personally in charge, as he announced, of Prime Minister Babiš, while the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, headed by former Klaus spokesman Petr Macinka from Motorist, is losing importance.
A vote of confidence in the new Babiš government is expected on January 13th.
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