President Pavel appoints Andrej Babiš as Czech Prime Minister

Czech President Petr Pavel on Tuesday appointed Andrej Babiš as prime minister. He did so during a ceremony broadcast live on television.

The seventy-one-year-old politician is returning to power after spending four years in opposition. During this period, he has gradually moved from the political centre towards right-wing groupings in Europe and joined the Patriots for Europe faction in the European Parliament.

His new cabinet will also include the SPD and the Motorists for Ourselves party, which bases its agenda mainly on opposition to the European Union's climate policies.

Babiš has also announced that he will cut military aid to Ukraine from the national budget. He admitted that the government may end the Czech Ammunition Initiative, which provides large-calibre ammunition purchases for Ukraine. He described the scheme as non-transparent and overpriced, although he did not indicate how he planned to deal with it going forward.

However, the project continues to have strong support from President Pavlo, which may lead to disputes between the two top constitutional officials. Babiš has not yet made it clear whether he will cancel the ammunition programme or merely modify it.

Pavel moved to appoint Babiš after the new prime minister announced the transfer of the Agrofert holding group to a trust structure. He made the move to remove the conflict of interest arising from his ownership of more than two hundred companies in the chemical, food, agricultural and other sectors.

(reuters, lud)