Prague, Feb 17 (CTK) – Czech Prime Minister and Social Democrat (CSSD) chairman Bohuslav Sobotka for the first time allowed for cooperation with the Communists (KSCM) on the government level in an interview with daily Hospodarske noviny (HN) published Friday.
Consequently, if the CSSD succeeded in the October general election and formed a new government, the Czech Republic might have the first Communist ministers since the collapse of the communist regime in November 1989.
HN writes that this is part of Sobotka’s plan how to defeat the ANO movement of Finance Minister Andrej Babis, the CSSD’s current coalition partner and at the same time its major election rival, which has long been an election favourite.
However, so far the Bohumin resolution from 1995 prevented the Social Democrats (CSSD) from forming a direct government coalition with the KSCM.
Sobotka told HN he considered the resolution obsolete, firmly anchored in the historical context shortly after 1989. It need not be abolished, but the CSSD should not return to it any more, he said.
“I think we should return to the ordinary people’ worries. They do not care at all whether the Bohumin resolution is valid or not,” Sobotka said.
The CSSD’s election congress in March, where Sobotka will be defending his post, will debate the Bohumin resolution.
Sobotka said in the interview that he cannot see any problem in a possible government coalition with the KSCM. He argued with the CSSD’s long-term cooperation with the Communists in regions and municipalities.
“We have had a number of coalitions with the KSCM in regions for one or two election terms. The cooperation works well on the municipal level as well. Moreover, the political spectrum is changing. I do not think that a purely left-wing government could be formed in the current situation, but a pro-European government respecting the social consensus can emerge,” Sobotka told HN.
The KSCM welcomes the CSSD’s decision.
“While the right wing is able to unite, the left wing still has problems to do so. It is positive that similar limits and barriers will be removed,” KSCM deputy head Jiri Dolejs said.
Sobotka is not likely to face opponents to his stance in the CSSD either. Many influential Social Democrats considered the ban on cooperation with the KSCM a complication in the past, HN writes.
CSSD deputy group head Roman Sklenak said the CSSD should change its position embedded in the Bohumin resolution.
ANO criticises Sobotka’s accommodating stance on the Communists (KSCM). “Mr Sobotka will do anything to become the prime minister again. He does not hesitate to ally with the devil,” Deputy PM Babis told HN.
Yet Babis also admitted cooperation with the KSCM before the regional elections last autumn.
HN points out, however, that the parties’ latest preferences indicate that the formation of a purely leftist cabinet of the CSSD and the KSCM is unlikely after the October election.
According to the CVVM’s election model from January, both left wing parties together would gain 32.5 percent of the vote, which is the expected gain of ANO alone.
It is therefore more realistic that Babis, as the election winner, will form a new government coalition. But he cannot count with the CSSD if the party is still headed by Sobotka, HN writes.
“I can imagine the continuation of the current coalition, but only if the CSSD led the government and had the decisive say in it,” Sobotka told HN, adding that the CSSD would have to fill the PM’s post.
Babis expressed surprise at Sobotka’s conditions.
HN writes that Sobotka’s intention is clear. He tries to describe Babis, a billionaire businessman, as a politician who can never defend the interests of left-wing voters.
This is why Sobotka presented a consistently leftist programme and said pensioners, young families with children and employees would make up the core of the CSSD voters. This is also reflected in the CSSD’s first pre-election proposals, including the introduction of a special bank tax and lowering the taxes paid by people with average and below-average wages, HN writes.
