Prague, June 16 (CTK) – Czech Social Democrats (CSSD) can be considered the winners of the coalition feud over the police reform, but ANO is likely not to have forgotten it, and clashes in the coalition will continue, analysts told CTK on Thursday.
In the past days, ANO threatened to leave the government if the police reshuffle it rejected were set in motion.
After Interior Minister Milan Chovanec (CSSD) signed it on Wednesday, ANO said it would not leave the coalition, but only demanded a change in the coalition pact.
“The CSSD, Chovanec, are the winners and ANO is the main loser because it did not achieve its objective and it had to make it clear eventually that the participation in the government is vital for it,” analyst Josef Mlejnek said.
ANO was forced to change its mind because the movement remained without any political allies, he added.
“Even President Milos Zeman assumed a wait-and-see position,” Mlejnek said.
“ANO reached the conclusion that if it left the government, its position would worsen,” he added.
“Now it still has a chance of preventing some negative impacts of the police reform. If it leaves the government, it will not have any influence on the government policy,” Mlejnek said.
Analyst Daniel Kunstat said no clear-cut winner could be denoted, but Finance Minister Andrej Babis, the ANO leader, seemed to be the loser.
“With loud fanfares, he put up the struggle, threatening to topple the government, but then he dropped the proposal,” Kunstat said.
“All of his conduct in the affair seems to be quite amateurish, which can be ascribed to his brief political career and some personal qualities that complicate a rational approach to the delicate mechanisms of power politics,” Kunstat said.
The High State Attorney’s Office in Olomouc, north Moravia, is a clear loser. It joined the conflict and started checking the police management over the planned reshuffle, he added.
Its conduct was bizarre, Kunstat said.
Analyst Bohumil Dolezal said the current conflict was much broader, touching upon the general concept of parliamentary democracy.
“This was just one clash won by the Social Democrats, but the general problem was not eliminated,” Dolezal said.
The CSSD and ANO have large conflicts, but they are unable to end their cooperation, he added.
All the three analysts agreed that the clashes in the coalition would continue.
“I expect a sort of trench warfare or another attack over quite a different affair,” Mlejnek said.
“I do not think Babis will easily put up with the defeat. In the foreseeable future, he may try a counter-attack,” he added.
