Andrej Babiš dropped his plans to form a government as quickly as possible. Two weeks after the elections, he is talking about the fact that his cabinet will probably be formed in December.
After all, this does not deviate from the speed with which governments were formed in the past. And President Petr Pavel also advises Babiš not to rush into negotiations.
He withdrew after the initial consultations, saying that he would meet with the possible future prime minister again when the program of the next government, the coalition agreement and the complete list of ministers are on the table.
Negotiations on the program between ANO, SPD and Motorists will begin next week. As the first vice-chairman of the ANO movement Karel Havlíček announced, the negotiations will last approximately one month.
“We want to have a program ready by mid-November,” said Havlíček.
The next step will depend on how quickly the three coalitions put together a list of ministerial candidates. Andrej Babiš claims that personnel are not being discussed at all now, but it can be assumed that the candidates are continuously being adjusted behind the scenes. The final list would therefore not have to be created much later than the program agreement.
After that, according to the Castle, Babiš will be entrusted with negotiations on the government. Let us remind you that it is not a formal act, but rather a habit. The head of the ANO movement does not need credentials for anything – he can negotiate without one, and the president does not indicate in any way that he would consider anyone else to be the leader.
First the consultation
In the second half of November, talks with the proposed ministers requested by the president could begin at the Castle. “I am ready to negotiate with nominees of political parties for members of the government and discuss their priorities and positions,” said the president after the last meeting with Babiš.
In the meantime, the constituent meeting of the House of Representatives will take place, which will allow the government of Petr Fiala to resign.
Only when all these conditions are met, the president will proceed with the appointment of Andrej Babiš as Prime Minister.
“I intend to appoint the prime minister first after the end of the constituent meeting of the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, taking into account the previous personnel consultations and after studying the program documents of the future government coalition,” added the president.
The President has one more condition before the appointment, which he does not mention in the official statement. He will ask Andrej Babiš to publicly describe the solution to his conflict of interests. And he guaranteed that he would really keep him in office.
The President has already heard from Babiš several options for solving the future of the Agrofert concern. These include, for example, a transfer to children or a blind fund, but Babiš did not specifically present any of the options.
Stay away
The President made it clear that he did not want to get involved in arguments about individual candidates for ministers or the details of the program of the future cabinet. It doesn’t always work out – for example, when asked by the media, he commented on the cases of Filip Turk, a possible candidate for foreign minister.
Advisers advise Pavlov to exercise as much restraint as possible even in the case of the ongoing transfer of power. This week, however, the President was drawn into negotiations on the budget for next year. Andrej Babiš directly called on him to force the outgoing government to submit its budget proposal to the new House of Representatives.
Outgoing Prime Minister Petr Fiala rejects this. Pavel stated that Babiš’s challenge is relevant and he will discuss the matter with Prime Minister Fiala. Although he told Babiš that he does not intend to solve things in his style – that is, messages via social networks.
