Prague, April 17 (CTK) – President Milos Zeman considers an agreement between the ANO movement of PM Andrej Babis and Social Democrats (CSSD) on their coalition government probable, opposition Civic Democrat (ODS) chairman Petr Fiala said after a meeting with Zeman on Tuesday.
Zeman also insists on Babis, whose minority government keeps ruling after its resignation in January, to lead negotiations on a new cabinet, Fiala added.
Zeman has set June as the deadline for solving the government crisis, Fiala added.
After Fiala, Zeman received Pirates chairmans Ivan Bartos at at Prague Castle, the presidential seat.
Fiala told reporters after the meeting that he wanted to ask Zeman about his view of the current political crisis. Their meeting was meaningful though he learnt nothing new, as it confirmed Zeman’s stances expressed so far, he added.
He also said he can do nothing but respect Zeman’s stance since the president had the right to act in this case under the constitution.
Zeman confirmed to Fiala that he can see only two possible solutions: either the formation of an ANO-CSSD government supported by the Communists (KSCM) or an ANO government backed by the KSCM and the ultra-right Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD), while he considered the first alternative more probable. Zeman expects the ANO-CSSD talks to be successful, Fiala said.
Zeman also rejected the idea of another ANO representative negotiating about a government instead of Babis. He told Fiala that he respected the decision of the election-winning movement, which nominated Babis for PM.
Babis must form his second government during June at the latest, Fiala cited Zeman as saying
Fiala at the same time criticised the possibility to form a new government supported by the KSCM, pointing to the active “Stalinist” wing in this party and the Communists’ foreign policy.
On Wednesday, Zeman will meet opposition Christian Democrat (KDU-CSL) chairman Pavel Belobradek, and on Thursday he will talk to CSSD new chairman Jan Hamacek at Prague Castle
Babis’s ANO minority government resigned after it lost a confidence vote in the Chamber of Deputies in January, but keeps ruling pending the talks on a new cabinet.
Two weeks ago, the Social Democrats terminated the talks with ANO as was not ready to comply with the CSSD’s demand that Babis should not be nominated as the prime minister because he is criminally prosecuted over an EU subsidy fraud. The termination of the talks was approved by the Social Democrat supreme bodies, including the party congress.
Zeman then called on Babis to conduct the talks on the government with the Communists and the anti-EU SPD. However, since a number of ANO lawmakers refused to cooperate with the SPD, ANO decided to resume the talks with the Social Democrats last week.
Both parties’ representatives met on Monday evening, but they did not release any results. The CSSD leadership is to debate them at the end of the week at first.
