PRAGUE (AP) — A new Czech coalition government led by populist billionaire Andrej Babiš took office Monday with an agenda to steer the country away from supporting Ukraine and rejecting some key European Union policies.
President Petr Pavel swore in the Cabinet at Prague Castle, ending a pro-Western coalition under former Prime Minister Petr Fiala that made the country a strong supporter of Ukraine and a haven for hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees.
Babiš, who was previously Prime Minister in two governments from 2017-2021, and his movement ANO, or IVA, won big in the country’s October election and agreed to form a majority coalition government with two small political groups, the anti-migrant party Liberty and Direct Democracy and the Right-wing Motorists for Themselves.
The parties, which share the admiration for the American President Donald Trump, created a Cabinet of 16 members. ANO has eight positions and the prime minister’s office. The Drivers have four and the Freedom party three.
The political comeback by Babiš and his new alliance with two junior government newcomers is expected to significantly redefine the nation’s foreign and domestic policies.
Babiš will join the ranks of Hungary’s Viktor Orbán and Slovakia’s Robert Fico, whose countries have refused to provide military aid to Ukraine and oppose EU sanctions on Russia.
Babiš rejected any financial aid from his country to Ukraine and guarantees for loans from the EU to the country which is fighting the Russian invasion.
Babiš already joined his friend Orbán last year to create a new alliance in the European Parliament, the “Patriots for Europe,” to represent hard-right groups. Before, he was a member of the liberal group Renew.
Babiš suggested that his government abandon a Czech initiative that managed to procure around 1.8 million much-needed artillery shells for Ukraine this year alone in markets outside the EU.
The Freedom party sees no future for the Czechs in the EU and NATO and wants to expel most of the 380,000 Ukrainian refugees in the country. The group does not consider Russia a threat and its members repeat its propaganda.
The Drivers, who are close to the former eurosceptic President Václav Klaus, rejected the EU’s Green Pact and proposed the revival of coal and relations with Slovakia, Hungary and Poland in an informal group known as V4 whose activities stopped due to different views of the Russian war against Ukraine.
The Drivers, whose leader Petr Macinka became the minister of foreign affairs, blamed the previous government for damaging relations with Slovakia and Hungary.
The new government has promised to present a plan to reduce electricity prices, repeal pension reform and change the funding of public radio and television which critics say would bring broadcasters under government control.