The new Czech coalition has signed an agreement

On Monday at 2 p.m., the constituent meeting of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Parliament will begin, during which the newly elected deputies will take their oaths of office. An hour earlier, however, the leaders of the victorious parties—Andrej Babiš (ANO), Tomio Okamura (SPD), and Filip Turek (Motoristé)—met to sign the coalition agreement and program agreement. The agreement was signed at 1:05 p.m. According to the joint Czech-Slovak tradition, the leader of the second-strongest party is elected president of parliament.

The difference from the outgoing legislative period is that Babiš and his movement intend to reduce the number of deputy presidents of parliament (equivalent to the Slovak vice president) to four. In the last composition, there were six, with four seats occupied by members of the coalition. The former and probably future prime minister also intends to offer two seats to the opposition.

The role of deputy speaker is important in the reconstitution of parliament. Former Speaker Markéta Pekarová Adamová did not defend her seat in the October 3 and 4 elections, so Vice Speaker Věra Kovářová (STAN) will preside over Monday's session—until Wednesday, when a new speaker will be elected.

According to preliminary agreements, the leader of the Freedom and Direct Democracy movement, Tomio Okamura, is to be elected chairman of the lower house of the Czech Parliament. The outgoing deputy chairman of the TOP 09 party, Matěj Ondřej Havel, has already responded by stating that Okamura “will not be a respected diplomatic figure abroad.”

President Petr Pavel also indirectly expressed similar concerns, particularly with regard to Filip Turek. The chairman of the Motorists and former MEP attracted attention by publishing a photo in which he is seen “greeting” Elon Musk, the “future vice president,” with his right hand raised in his car.

Pavel therefore stated that he hoped the composition of the new government would not call into question “the Czech Republic's foreign policy anchoring” in the EU and NATO.

Babiš expressed his conviction that the composition of the cabinet would be announced by mid-December at the latest. He presented the preliminary text of the government declaration to the president on Friday, which was a surprising move. In the Czech parliamentary democracy, parliament plays the decisive role, while the president's powers, similar to those in Slovakia, are primarily ceremonial in nature.

Babiš's planned coalition promised not to raise income taxes for individuals and to reduce taxes for legal entities to 19 percent. The public finance deficit is to be kept at three percent of GDP, and there will be no discussion about introducing the euro.

(List of news items, sab)