Billionaire Andrej Babis appointed Prime Minister of the Czech Republic. A critic of the EU, he has promised to cut aid to Ukraine
Babis has repeatedly criticized EU institutions, vowed to reject migration and environmental policies and pledged to cut military aid to Ukraine from the national budget, while potentially ending a Czech initiative to supply Kiev with shells, writes Reuters.
Czech President Petr Pavel appointed billionaire Andrej Babis, leader of the populist ANO party, as prime minister on Tuesday, a major step in forming the next government after the political grouping won parliamentary elections in October.
Babis will take power from a strongly pro-Ukraine center-right administration after the appointment of his cabinet, expected next week.
Babis, 71, returns to power after four years in opposition, during which he moved away from the liberal center and closer to European far-right forces, joining the Patriots for Europe group in the European Parliament.
His cabinet will include the far-right, anti-EU and pro-Russian SPD and the Motorists party, whose main agenda is opposition to EU climate policies.
Pavel appealed to Babis during the ceremony to maintain strong relations with the EU and NATO in the current security context.
“We have to solve a number of problems, which will not be pleasing to the public, will require not only vision but also courage, will require not questioning our attachment to the EU and NATO and a constructive approach,” he said.
Babis' policies
Babis has said he wants to defend Czech interests both domestically and abroad, and wants his government to be appointed in time to attend the December 18-19 summit of EU leaders.
“We will propose that the EU solve other problems, not only aid to Ukraine, but also energy issues, value added tax and tariff leakage,” Babis said.
“The EU is too concerned with spending and too little with revenue,” he said.
Babis has repeatedly criticized EU institutions and prefers to deal with national leaders within the European Council.
He has vowed to reject the EU's policies on migration and the environment.
The new Czech prime minister pledged to cut military aid to Ukraine from the national budget and said the new government could end the Czech initiative to supply Ukraine with shells.
Babis said the scheme was not transparent and too expensive, but did not take a clear position on the future of the project, which has strong support from the president.
The prime minister's legal problems
Pavel appointed the new prime minister after Babis said last week that he would transfer his main asset, Agrofert, a group of more than 200 companies in the chemical, food, agricultural and other fields, to a fiduciary structure to resolve a conflict of interest he would have in office.
Babis faces allegations of receiving a €2 million EU grant to help build a conference and entertainment center outside Prague, which prosecutors say was obtained fraudulently.
Babis has returned the amount, but denies any wrongdoing. An appeals court overturned his acquittal in the case and ordered a retrial, but Babis could avoid a retrial if parliament, controlled by his allies, votes against lifting immunity.
