Andrea Marková posts - Czech Points

Andrea Marková

 January 11, 2018 Politics

Zeman Defends Babis's Failure to Form Government and Fraud Charges

Zeman Defends Babis's Failure to Form Government and Fraud Charges - Czech Points

Against the approval of the one-color cabinet, all eight remaining House Committees have spoken in recent days. KSČM and SPD talked, among other things, about the lack of credibility of the project , the Social Democrats (CSSD) about the illogical process of post-election negotiations, and the party on the right from Wednesday saw trouble in the criminal prosecution of the Prime Minister for the subsidy affair of the Central Bohemian Farm Stork Nest – and also said Babis did not want to talk about the government.

“From the ancient times, the presumption of innocence applies. And the presumption of innocence says that the accused must be seen as innocent until he is eventually finally convicted, “Zeman said in the case of Storks Nest. “I ask all politicians, including myself, not to play police investigators, prosecutors or judges. It’s not their function. ”

The predicted failure of Babis’s Cabinet is explained by the lack of time. In mid-December, the government appointed the ANO chief at the Brussels summit as prime minister, and in the next thirty days during which the government had to ask the Chamber of Trust to join the talks to support the program statement as well as the Christmas holidays.

He reiterated that in the event of failure, Babis would also give his second attempt: “I commit myself to create enough time before the second attempt that has been made to allow negotiations to take place, whether they are directed to a majority coalition government or a minority government with the tolerance or support of some parliamentary bodies. “”There are several variants of this kind of support,” he said, listing numbers 103, 108, 115 and 140 as counts of supporting MPs. The first two options correspond to cooperation with the ODS (103 votes), ANO with the Social Democrats (CSSD) and the KSCM (108 votes), the other two are multiple.

And as he announced when leaving the House, at least he would ask Babiš before his second appointment as Prime Minister. At the same time, Babis will want regular information on the development of negotiations – the appointment will only take place when the support is in place.

The Prime Minister considers Zeman’s demand to be logical. “As far as I know, the President did not explicitly say he would demand 101 signatures, but he would want to guarantee that the second cabinet would get at least 101 votes in the vote on trust. It seems to me to be the standard and logical requirement of the President before the second attempt, “he said.

Despite the request of 101 votes, however, the head of state in front of the plenary of Babiš’s existing project evaluated in principle positively.

He appreciated that the government is considering setting up the Ministry for Public Investment as well as a long-term investment program but asks for concrete results – as an example of the real mileage of built highways – and as usual the president has mentioned the importance of investment for future economic growth.

“Economic growth in the future is a function of the volume of investment in the present. The volume of investment is declining sharply, and we are now being condemned to stop a beautiful five percent economic growth in the future, “he said.

The opposition MPs subsequently criticized the speech and described it as a pre-election vote (the vote on the new head of state Zeman is starting on Friday), including the change in Zeman’s attitude, as the President has now asked for no ballot for the Prime Minister.

ODS Chief Petr Fiala said on Twitter that Zeman did more in the speech than the overall picture: “His speech made it clear that he was in office again in two days. But in the end, he was right to say that the concept of the minority government of Andrew Babis is unsustainable. ”

According to the chairman of the People’s Party, Pavel Bělobrádek, the President had to ask for some support before the current vote. “We could forgive this cabaret,” KDU-CSL deputy chairman Marian Jureka added, “Why did President Zeman not want the 101 signatures already for the first attempt? It did not fit into his non-campaign timeline for the presidential election. ”

Vice President STAN Vít Rakušan also talks about the pre-election speech. “Maximum space for Andrey Babis. Almost unlimited space for the government without trust. Non-profit criticism. Spanking all sides, except those that support it. Was anything surprised? “He said. In connection with the weekend’s first round of state elections, Mikuláš Ferjenčík of the Pirates also says: “He wants to win the election, so he gives the voters of Andrej Babiš the chance.”

As a step in the right direction, Zeman’s demand is assessed by CSSD politicians who are speculated as possible coalition partner ANO. According to the Chief Deputy Chief of Social Democrats, “it is the right way to the stability of the Czech Republic”.