- Czech political scientist Petr Just analyzes the return of Andrej Babiš to the position of prime minister.
- Just compares Babiš’s situation with the return of other politicians such as Fico or Trump.
- He assumes that Babiš will try to clean up his image rather than seek revenge.
- Just suggests that Fico and Orbán’s joy at his return may be exaggerated.
The joy of the Slovak and Hungarian prime ministers at the fact that Andrej Babiš became the new prime minister of the Czech government was, according to Czech political scientist Petr Just premature in the long run. Although these politicians agree on something, according to him, Robert Fico and Viktor Orbán cannot count on the fact that Babiš will agree with them on everything.
Just, who is the head of the Department of Political Science and Anglophone Studies at the Metropolitan University in Prague (MUP), also pointed out in an interview with a TASR reporter that similar to other politicians who returned to governing after time in the opposition, Babiš will also want to clean up his image. However, for now, according to him, it is questionable whether he will want to take revenge and will be more radical than before.
The political scientist recalled that the parties of the current Czech government announced from the opposition that if they get into the government, they will resume joint negotiations, which were interrupted by Petr Fiala’s cabinet. Just anticipates that they will deliver on that promise. At the same time, he pointed out that even in the past period, the bilateral relations between the Slovak Republic and the Czech Republic were at a standard level, even if the governments did not meet together. In addition, the new Czech government wants to restore the functioning of the Vyšehrad Four (V4), which, according to him, will not be so easy.
“They still need Poles for that. And so far, it doesn’t seem that the Poles are interested in participating, for example, in the same rhetoric in relation to Ukraine as Hungary and Slovakia. And I think that the Hungarian and Slovak joy about Andrej Babiš as the new prime minister was perhaps a bit premature,” said the political scientist.
According to him, Fico and Orbán cannot rely on the fact that Babiš will become their “partner” during votes in the European Council and will, for example, block aid packages for Ukraine with them. “Andrej Babiš is a pragmatist and he is not blind. He sees that both the Slovak and Hungarian prime ministers are getting into a certain isolation, and Babiš does not want his message to be associated with isolation. Of course, he does not eagerly rush into pro-European Eurohujer positions either. He will oscillate pragmatically,” assumes Just.
In December, shortly after the appointment of the government, Babiš already managed to participate in the meeting of the European Council, where it was decided what form of loan the European states would provide to Ukraine. The Czech Republic together with Slovakia and Hungary negotiated an exemption from the guarantee, but they voted differently. While Slovakia and Hungary did not support the conclusions regarding Ukraine, the Czech Republic voted in favor. Babiš repeatedly emphasized this after the summit. That is why he added that although the Czech Prime Minister and Fico and Orbán agree on something, the joy of the Prime Ministers of Slovakia and Hungary may not last long.
According to Just, the situation of Andrej Babiš, who returned to the prime minister’s chair after four years, can be compared, for example, to what Robert Fico or American President Donald Trump experienced. They all ruled, then for various reasons were either in the opposition or out of politics and then returned to rule.
“All three also have in common the fact that during their time in the opposition they faced certain criminal proceedings, either at the court or investigative level. And all three used it to their advantage, because they set it up as a prosecution on a political order. They put themselves in the role of martyrs and used it very intensively in their campaigns.” he emphasized.
According to Justa, both Trump and Fico returned with a sense of the need to satisfy and retaliate against those who, in their opinion, were behind their problems when they were in opposition. According to him, it is questionable whether Babiš will come with a similar style and be more radical than he was in his previous government.
“With Andrej Babiš, I might doubt that he will clearly go down this path. There will probably be some attempt to clean himself up. I don’t even mean legally, but rather to clean up his image and attack those who, in his opinion, have tarnished him.” thinks Just. He reminded that Babiš had already declared, for example, about the judge of the appeals court, who overturned the acquittal in the Čapí hnízdo case, that she was a communist prosecutor.
“We don’t know at this point, of course, whether it will translate into governance in any way – whether it’s rhetoric or some concrete steps. But the example of some other leaders who have gone through similar situations and returned to power shows that the desire for some kind of revenge is there. And in some ways it has been realized.” added the Czech political scientist.
