Czech PM-in-waiting jumps aboard populist bandwagon as he breaks foreign policy silence

Czech PM-in-waiting jumps aboard populist bandwagon as he breaks foreign policy silence
Having left the finance ministry during a mini constitutional crisis, Andrej Babis is now free to campaign. / Photo: CC
By Tim Gosling in Prague June 26, 2017

The Czech Republic should not join the euro or the push for deeper EU integration, and must continue to resist migrant quotas, Andrej Babis, who looks destined to become prime minister following elections in October, said in comments published on June 26.

The pledges mark a coming out on foreign policy of sorts for Babis. During his time as finance minister in the current coalition – before being sacked in May – the billionaire populist barely discussed foreign policy issues. However, with his Ano party enjoying a double digit lead in polls, he now appears to be seeking to shore up support to secure the top job after the upcoming vote by playing to the deep Euroscepticism across the country. Having left the finance ministry during a mini constitutional crisis, Babis is now free of the constraints of office on his ability to campaign.

“No euro. I don’t want the euro. We don’t want the euro here,” Babis told Bloomberg in an interview on June 23. “Everybody knows it’s bankrupt. It’s about our sovereignty. I want the Czech koruna, and an independent central bank. I don’t want another issue that Brussels would be meddling with.”

While the Czech Republic has never set a date for adopting the single currency, the current coalition leading Social Democrat Party (CSSD) and President Milos Zeman have sought to move the issue forward. Suggestions that the next government should set a target date of 2020 for joining the euro were regularly suggested during the current government’s term, but that talk has all but evaporated over the past 12 months or so as the populist tide has made it political poison. Surveys suggest over 70% of Czechs are against adopting the euro.

The left-leaning CSSD looks all but shot, with polls suggesting support has fallen to 10-14%. However, even should it manage to revive, it would find no other significant party to offer support to starting down the euro track, with the centrist Ano joined by the smattering of rightwing opposition parties in opposing accession to the Eurozone. Babis says he is ready to work with any political party except the communist KSCM and conservative Top 09, with whom he has a long history of rancour.

Being Slovak born, Babis has avoided the nationalism that has been adopted by political figures in neighbours such as Poland and Hungary. Indeed, he barely commented on foreign policy at all during his time in the government.

However, he now appears set to dive into the populist stream carrying the ruling PiS party in Poland and Hungary’s Fidesz. Regarding the efforts of French President Emmanuel Macron to push deeper integration in the EU, he is clearly scathing, and suggests he prefers the stance across the rest of Visegrad – save his homeland – that the bloc should remain a looser trade club with greater sovereignty retained by national capitals.

“The biggest added value of the European Union is the national identity of each country,” said Babis. “A strong Europe thanks to strong states - that’s logical, no?”

He also blasted the European Commission’s launch of infringement procedures against Czechia, Hungary and Poland for their refusal to work with migrant quotas. “We have to fight for what our ancestors built here,” Babis said. “If there will be more Muslims than Belgians in Brussels, that’s their problem. I don’t want that here. They won’t be telling us who should live here.”

Meanwhile, the billionaire continues his track record of making bold and surprising claims. He claims his Ano party, which is dominated by Babis, is a model for French President Emmanuel Macron, who as the main force pushing an emboldened EU towards reform and deeper integration has clashed with Visegrad.

The French president “asked me about my movement,” some years ago, says Babis, who pledges to run the Czech Republic like his conglomerate Agrofert and quash corruption. “Macron followed me.”

Babis said he plans to cut government costs and stop people from “being parasites”. A balanced budget isn’t “a mantra,” he added, saying he also pledges to cut taxes and that borrowing can be justified to bring “growth, higher wages, higher gross domestic product, higher spending”.

 

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