With all the polls favouring him, the billionaire Minister today is the true protagonist of Czech politics and his ambitions are growing. Sobotka has been warned
Following his surprising electoral success last autumn, and the subsequent entry into the government, billionaire and politician Andrej Babiš has been beginning to find his seats as Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime minister a bit low. The polls on the popularity of political leaders in the last few months have attributed him with the first place overall. According to a survey in March from Stem, the proportion of Czechs who manifested a positive opinion towards him, is no less than 62% of the population. As if that were not enough, the end of the European elections approaches in late May and all the polls were almost unanimous in attributing the role of first party to Ano, the movement of “dissatisfied citizens” of which Babiš is the founder, chief and a great contributor. The percentages of consensus range from 24% up, while they have distanced themselves from the Social Democrats of Čssd, the party that leads the ruling coalition.
Constantly animated by great activism, in some situations it seems that the real head of the government is indeed he, with all due respect to the prime minister’s office, the Social Democrat Bohuslav Sobotka. An effective example of this was the attitude with which Babiš intervened in the negotiations concerning state aid to extinguish the social repercussions for the closure of the Důl Paskov coal mine in Moravia. Having bypassed the Industry Minister Jan Mládek (Social Democrat) in the negotiation, the tycoon of Slovak origin induced the representatives of the mining company to accept far more convenient conditions (for the miners and for the public purse). EU permitting, it is a victory that especially the media of his properties have not failed to point out, increasing its popularity. “I am not a politician, but a working man, so I know how certain deals are handled”, was the comment from Babiš, reaffirming his image as the overseer of the political class, who is apparently liked so much by the people.
A situation of this kind, cannot fail to shake the seat of the prime minister, whose position has been weakened by the lack of unity of the Social Democratic Party and the constant enmity from the head of state Miloš Zeman towards the prime minister.
Moreover, the relationships between the Castle and Babiš now seem idyllic. For a few months, Zeman has never missed an opportunity to claim to be in sync with the steps taken by the Minister of Finance. Evidently he has now identified him as the ideal partner to weaken his great enemy Sobotka. The tandem also appears to work, even to the point that Babiš for a while, has stopped his anti Zeman teasing, which last year was rather frequent.
In this situation, Prime Minister Sobotka, whose lack of charisma is evident, is trying to display serenity in his usual dull role as a party member.
On one occasion in the last two and a half months in the government, we witnessed a genuine quarrel between Babiš and Sobotka. It was the latter who lit the fuse when he commented that “the best way to clear the suspicions of conflict of interest would be for minister Babiš to stop being an entrepreneur and dedicate himself only to politics”.
It did not take long for the response of the Agrofert boss. By dusting off the winning rhetoric of his election campaign, he launched a warning, “Sobotka, as a good professional politician who has never worked, does not know what he is talking about when he talks about business activities. I only own my own business, but do not manage them. However, I have no intention of selling my businesses. If it is not good for him, Sobotka will have to try to have my mandate as Minister revoked, or change the coalition government”.
Support for Babiš was immediately provided from the Castle by president Zeman, who declared that “a person can own property, while not necessarily being an entrepreneur”.
Actually, the conflict of interest problem is obvious, lying in front of the eyes of everyone. Babiš, who according to the Forbes list of the Scrooge Mcducks in the world, has a wealth of $2.4 billion, on some occasions has even showed he is aware of it and has tried to find a solution in order not to affect the public opinion. For example, last March, when he asked for the surveillance powers of the State Company Explosia to be transferred from the Ministry of Finance to the Ministry of Industry and Trade. Explosia actually depends on the supply of raw materials insured by Synthesia, a company which belongs to Agrofert owned by Babiš.
For the same reason in at least two cases, the finance minister, who is the owner of Agrofert, the largest agribusiness holding company in the Czech Republic, has preferred to abstain from voting in the Council of Ministers. It was when the government approved an increase in the amount to be allocated to projects in the rural development program, funded mainly by the EU, and when the government proposed retaining the tax relief on diesel fuel used for agricultural purposes.
Regarding the position of conflict of interest in which Babiš finds himself, it is a case of simple palliatives. However, the Social Democrat Allies, besides their words, when facing the risk of breaking up the government, they do not seem willing to take the controversy to the extreme and to take responsibility for early elections. Even more so with the almost certainty of being bound to lose.
Meanwhile, in recent months Babiš has almost succeeded in neutralizing the grain of his alleged past membership in the StB, the notorious secret police of the pre 1989 regime. There is an ongoing process on this matter in Bratislava, which could end in a stalemate. The latest hearings have recorded points in favor of the Czech Minister. In court, an elderly man, a former communist spy, gave a testimony in which he denied under oath that he had enlisted Babiš as a collaborator in the 80s. A testimony that rejects the findings of old documents and archives that could prove crucial to saving the reputation of the billionaire minister. In any case prime minister Sobotka seemed to want to turn the page declaring “the capacity of our government is based on the implementation of the coalition’s program. Czech citizens for some time, have been aware of the suspicion that Babiš is a former StB agent, yet this has not prevented them from voting for him. There is therefore no problem regarding the stability of the executive branch”.
by Giovanni Usai