Prague/Nymburk, Central Bohemia, April 21 (CTK) – Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis congratulated Communist leader Vojtech Filip on his re-election at the party’s congress on Saturday.
Babis said he believed the forthcoming government-forming talks with the Social Democrats would result in the creation of a government with the confidence of the Chamber of Deputies as soon as possible.
The opposition parties are afraid of the growing influence of Communists. They say Babis and President Milos Zeman have actively contributed to it.
Next week, trilateral talks on a government of ANO and the Social Democrats with the Communist tolerance are to start.
“I congratulate Filip on his re-election. I am looking forward to the joint talks with the KSCM and the Social Democrats. Perhaps the result will come soon. A government with confidence should be formed,” Babis has tweeted.
Social Democrat leader Jan Hamacek also congratulated Filip on his re-election. “I believe that under your leadership, the KSCM will be implementing a leftist programme and advocate the welfare state,” he added.
Petr Fiala, leader of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS), said it did not matter who headed the Communists.
“The problem is the Communists themselves and the fact that Zeman and Babis are inviting them to the government for the first time since the overthrow of the Communist regime in 1989,” Fiala has told CTK.
The Communists headed by Filip are “still red opportunists and lackeys of the East,” Petr Gazdik, leader of the Mayors and Independents (STAN) said.
“They are not being pushed to Stalinism, but still they advocate a criminal ideology,” Gazdik said.
Filip, 63, has been heading the party since 2005.
