Billionaire Czech Premier Survives Ouster Bid After Mass Rallies
Billionaire Czech Premier Survives Ouster Bid After Mass Rallies
(Bloomberg) -- Czech billionaire Prime Minister Andrej Babis survived an opposition attempt to oust him, vowing to stay in his job even after the largest demonstrations since the fall of Communism called on him to quit.
Babis is under an increased pressure after police recommended charges against him over an alleged misuse of European Union funds. In addition, the preliminary result of a separate EU probe found a conflict of interest over his ties to his business empire, which gets subsidies from the bloc.
The country’s second-richest person, who rose to power two years ago on an anti-establishment platform, denies misconduct and says he’s a victim of attacks by his rivals who are trying to force him out of politics.
“I see this as an effort to destabilize our country,” he told lawmakers before the vote. “It’s against the interests of our country. It’s against everybody’s interests.”
Read more:
After an estimated quarter of a million people protested against the government on Sunday, Babis gave a list of his government’s economic achievements that include increased state investment into highways and higher pensions. Activists who organized the street rallies say Babis is unfit to stay in his job because of the criminal investigation and the alleged conflict of interest.
His party is the most popular in polls and Babis counts on generous benefits for retirees and public employees to help insulate him from dissatisfaction in the second half of his term.
Babis has been squabbling with his ruling coalition partner, the Social Democrats, over welfare spending. But his ally has pledged to stick with him, as well as the Communists whose lawmakers back the minority government in parliament.
To contact the reporter on this story: Peter Laca in Prague at placa@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Balazs Penz at bpenz@bloomberg.net, Andrea Dudik, Andrew Langley
©2019 Bloomberg L.P.