Prague, Aug 19 (CTK) – The Czech cabinet is unlikely to link the MPs’ vote on the bill introducing the e-registration of sales with a motion of confidence, a step pondered by Finance Minister and ANO chairman Andrej Babis, as it is opposed by PM Bohuslav Sobotka and Deputy PM Pavel Belobradek, the wrote to CTK yesterday.
Sobotka and Belobradek head ANO’s partners in the centre-left government, the Social Democrats (CSSD) and the Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL), respectively.
Babis previously said he is considering linking the lower house’s vote on the bill with a motion of confidence in the government in reaction to the obstructions the rightist opposition threatens to put up against the bill.
“I cannot understand that someone wants to block such a bill. I consider the bill crucial and I hope that the [government] coalition will support it. We cannot back fraudsters [among vendors]. We can link it [the vote on the bill in the Chamber of Deputies] to a motion of confidence in the cabinet,” Babis’s ANO movement has quoted him as saying on Facebook.
Babis has made a similar comment for the iDnes.cz server.
However, the coalition partners do not share his view.
“The CSSD will not link the bill on the introduction of electronic cash registers with a motion of confidence. We can see no reason for doing so, since this would not help the bill make it through,” Sobotka told CTK.
“The cabinet has pledged to pass a number of bills and positive changes, and our commitments cannot be reduced to only include the bill on the electronic registration of sales or even give up responsibility and leave our work unfinished for the bill’s sake,” Sobotka added.
Belobradek, when asked about linking the bill to a confidence vote, dismissed the idea, saying it would go counter to the Chamber of Deputies’ order of procedure.
He indicated that the government would first have to withdraw the bill from parliament and discuss it on the government level again in order to approve its linking to the vote of confidence.
Babis previously said the bill is a revolutionary piece of legislation that cracks down on dishonest businesspeople and is crucial in fighting grey economy. Its implementation would benefit all citizens, he said.
A part of businesspeople have protested against the bill, as has the rightist opposition TOP 09 and Civic Democrats (ODS), who plan to use obstructions to block it in the Chamber of Deputies.
rtj/dr/kva
