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Babis Seals Coalition With Far-Right SPD and Motorists Party to Form Czech Government

Presidential scrutiny of ministers plus an imminent speaker vote will test the new coalition’s 108-seat grip on Parliament.

Overview

  • The pact, signed during the new Parliament’s opening session, unites Babis’s ANO with the SPD and a eurosceptic motorists party for a 108 of 200 seat majority.
  • The partners agreed a 15-ministry cabinet split with ANO taking eight portfolios, the SPD three, and the motorists party four, with nominees to be named in the coming weeks.
  • The coalition program rejects adopting the euro, opposes the EU Green Deal, and favors restrictive asylum rules, setting up potential friction with Brussels.
  • SPD leader Tomio Okamura is the nominee for parliamentary speaker, with the vote expected Wednesday as the first parliamentary test for the alliance.
  • President Petr Pavel signaled rigorous vetting of ministerial candidates, a hurdle that could affect Babis’s stated goal of starting his new term by mid-December.