Czech parties sign agreement to form center-right government | Politics News

After the October elections, a major step has been taken to replace the outgoing administration of Prime Minister Andrej Babis.

Five Czech parties have signed a pact to form a new center-right coalition government following the strong result shown in last month’s vote, a major step towards replacing the outgoing administration of Prime Minister Andrej Babis.

From the somewhat Eurosceptic Civic Democrats to the center-left Liberal Pirate Party, they have pledged to reduce budget deficits as they have risen between last year between the pandemic and rising pensions and salaries.

Together, they won 108 seats in the 200-member lower house of parliament in the October 8-9 election.

While campaigning, they said they were united by Agrofert’s desire to get rid of Babis, who was accused of conflicts of interest as the founder of the empire of chemicals, food, the media.

Babis has regularly denied wrongdoing and complied with legal obligations by putting the company in bond funds before becoming prime minister in 2017.

The successor to the prime minister, Petr Fiala, said on Monday that the new coalition needed to act quickly.

“We need to resolve the problems that are upsetting people as soon as possible, and we need to get out of the various crises that the country has experienced: the health, the economy and the crisis of values,” he said at the launch of the pact. .

In addition to the budget deficit, which is expected to exceed 7 percent of GDP this year, the new government will face a new wave of energy price spirals and the coronavirus pandemic.

According to Czech procedures, President Milos Zeman may appoint Fiala after the resignation of the current government, which will last a few days after the initial session of parliament, which will begin later on Monday.

Babis’s ANO was the biggest party in the centrist movement in the election, but soon admitted he could not form a sufficient coalition and said he was ready to move into opposition.