Prague, Nov 9 (CTK) – The Czech-U.S. relations will not change with the election of Donald Trump a new president, Czech Deputy PM and Finance Minister Andrej Babis (ANO chairman) said yesterday.
Trump’s pre-election rhetoric was quite crazy sometimes, but election meetings differ from executing the presidential post in the White House, Babis said.
On his Facebook, Babis congratulated Trump on his election victory.
Babis said he hoped Trump would respect the alliance with Europe in NATO and help the EU tackle the mass migration by terminating the conflict in the Middle East.
Junior government Christian Democrat (KDU-CSL) chairman Pavel Belobradek said Trump’s victory showed that people wished a change and wanted their problems to be tackled.
“This is a phenomenon both in Europe and in America. People simply want a change, they are tired of experiments and want solutions to be found that concern them. This is a certain warning or an inspiration for us,” he added,” Belobradek told reporters, commenting on the U.S. election’s result.
KDU-CSL deputy chairman Ondrej Benesik told reporters in the Chamber of Deputies yesterday that he expected a certain, but not fundamental, re-assessment of the U.S. relations with Europe after Trump assumed the presidential post.
There is a difference between what is said in the election campaign and what is really implemented, said Benesik, head of the lower house European affairs committee.
Babis wrote on Facebook that he did not expect Trump to win.
“Everybody was against him. It has turned out that opinion polls were wrong again. This is why I take them with strong reservations in the Czech Republic as well,” Babis said.
Even American show business stood up against Trump and massively supported his rival Hillary Clinton, Babis added.
He said the Americans apparently appreciated Trump’s plans to introduce a harder migration policy and lower taxes.
“He may have appealed to them by his pragmatism and a clear language. Sociologists and political scientists immensely underestimated the Americans who were fed up with the quite well-established system of clientelism from which a narrow group of politicians and lobbyists is profiting,” he added.
Babis also said he was convinced that Czech-U.S. relations would remain unchanged.
“I firmly hope that Trump will respect the NATO alliance. He may help the EU tackle the problems with migration by terminating the conflict in the Middle East, which his predecessor Barack Obama did not manage,” Babis pointed out.
Unlike most Americans, Trump knows where the Czech Republic lies since he had a Czech wife (Ivana Trump), Babis added.
“He is a pragmatist and a businessman. Let us see how he will behave as the American president. Since his first speech after the election he has been different from the Trump who was addressing voters,” Babis said.
Defence Minister Martin Stropnicky (ANO) tweeted that demand for emotions was strong. “The result of the election in the United States has even increased this. The exact opposite is wanted – more rationality,” he said.
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