Prague, Jan 17 (CTK) – The Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of Czech parliament, will deal with the release of PM Andrej Babis (ANO) and ANO first deputy head Jaroslav Faltynek for prosecution on Friday, deputies decided on Wednesday, approving the ANO group’s proposal.
The Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL) and Pirates failed with their proposal to include the police request for the ANO politicians’ release for criminal prosecution as the first point in the agenda of Wednesday’s lower house session.
The Chamber of Deputies plans to debate a reform of the European asylum system, which was initiated by the anti-EU and anti-immigration Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) party of Tomio Okamura. He says the draft reform threatens to restrict the sovereignty of EU member states.
TOP 09 deputy group head Miroslav Kalousek pointed to the expected talks between ANO and SPD on a new government on Thursday, which, he said, might include negotiations about preventing the release of Babis and Faltynek.
The ANO and SPD have together 100 votes in the 200-seat lower house.
Faltynek dismissed such speculations. He said both he and Babis would like to be released for prosecution and would actively vote for this. Besides, except for the ANO MPs, all other deputy groups are for the release, he added.
Babis’s ANO minority government approved its resignation on Wednesday after it lost a confidence vote in the Chamber of Deputies on Tuesday. President Milos Zeman is expected to entrust Babis with forming a new cabinet. The talks with other parties started on Wednesday.
The Chamber of Deputies session was interrupted for an hour before a debate on the EU draft asylum system reform. The session is to resume at 10:50.
