Czechia: The Same Course or with Changes?
Since the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war, the Czech Republic has followed a certain course, always trying to help Ukraine repulse the Russian aggressor’s attack. And this policy would once again confirm the integrity of the Czech leadership, the consistency of its actions and deeds, even if it did not always coincide with its interests. At least the economic ones. Recently, we have seen this many times, including when the President of the Czech Republic commented on the need to supply us with shells not only from Czech stockpiles but also with those purchased in other countries. Against the background of how the Czech Republic’s neighbors treated this issue, it looked like real decency. But what will happen next? That is, with what kind of assistance will the Czech Republic provide us in the near future? After all, the elections to the lower house of the Czech Republic’s Parliament in early October of this year are expected to bring about changes in Czechia’s politics, including with regard to military operations on Ukrainian territory. This is already evidenced by statements made by the leaders of party centres who are running for ministerial positions in the near future.
The Czech media are now publishing a lot of information about these candidates, especially about A. Babiš, who is the main contender for the post of Prime Minister in the Czech government. But in this case, it is interesting and important to know what his attitude will be to the Russian-Ukrainian war, to the fact that we need continuation of serious aid in the form of weapons, not to mention support to our citizens during their stay in the Czech Republic since the beginning of the war. So far, there is no concrete answer. Although some information is emerging to determine the reaction of society. For example, who can claim the post of the Minister of Defence in the new Czech government when the previous establishment is preparing to leave and the new one is only in the process of being formed? For example, there are reports that the Czech Ministry of Defense will be in the hands of the SPD, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is claimed by those who call themselves “Motorists” (“Motoristé sobě”, honorary leader F. Turek).
By the way, in the competition for ministerial chairs, information weapons have been used. This refers to various cases, usually spicy ones, which can be used to support or discredit those who want to sit at the ministerial table as the head of such a state structure. For example, Filip Turek, a candidate for the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs, was accused of having published openly racist, sexist, and homophobic statements, as well as references to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. The case gained such a wide resonance that ANO leader Andrej Babiš even had to meet with Turek and leader of the “Motoristé sobě” party, Petr Macinka, to negotiate and determine a common position in such circumstances.
After the meeting, they announced that Turek would run for a seat in the government on behalf of “Motoristé sobě”. “The agreement we have concluded is valid,” Macinka confirmed. However, one more fact remains unclear, i.e., the recent results of the poll “Should Filip Turek become the Minister of Foreign Affairs?”. The answer of Czech voters can be called extremely specific: “19 % (7,070 respondents) said yes; 81 % (29,374 respondents) said no. We must understand that society does not trust him as a minister.
Earlier this week, A. Babiš said that negotiations on the personnel composition of a possible coalition of ANO, “Motoristé sobě” and SPD have not been completed yet. At the moment, the parties are focused on defining a program and a coalition agreement. As for the staffing of ministries, he promised to return to this issue in about a month. However, “Motoristé sobě” need to provide an explanation for the case of Filip Turek in order to be able to keep him as a candidate for the ministerial post.
But let’s get back to where we started, that is, to what we cannot help being interested in – the Czech Republic’s policy of supporting Ukraine. Recently, A. Babiš criticized the current government for being too concerned about providing assistance to Ukraine, in particular, supplying Ukraine with weapons. At one time, A. Babiš used D. Trump as an example (during the US presidential election), rejoicing in his promise to end the war within days. But recently, during the Czech elections, A. Babiš said that Trump disappointed him. In other words, A. Babiš’s guidelines on this issue are still little known, but they will certainly not be “in tune” with Trump’s. This can be confirmed by the current sudden silence of his associates regarding the demands to cancel the Czech Initiative to provide the Ukrainian Armed Forces with ammunition. Could this be a consequence of President Pavel’s special emphasis on the fact that the Czech Republic must remain a member of the EU and NATO and adhere to the adopted policy of supporting Ukraine? And this is exactly what he reminded A. Babiš when the question was raised about the candidates for the post of Minister of Defense, retired Lieutenant General Jaromír ZŮNA or head of the Association of Defense Industries Jiří Hynek…
But the issue of providing assistance to Ukraine will remain on the agenda, and a decision on it will be made soon. But the Czech media still remind us of A. Babiš’s critical attitude to this matter. It can even be called a problematic case today. Why? Because A. Babiš, as we have just mentioned, criticized the previous government, which really tried to provide Ukraine with assistance in the form of weapons, did not support peace talks, let alone seek to help resolve the problem. Babiš relied on Donald Trump because a year ago the latter promised to force the parties to make peace. Now, the likely future Czech Prime Minister has no one to rely on in this matter. And he should prepare for a concrete definition of his attitude to the Russian-Ukrainian war, i.e., assistance to the Ukrainian Defense Forces and Ukraine itself as a candidate for EU membership.
Oleh Makhno,
Institute for Global Politics
(Image generated by neural network)
