Prague, April 13 (CTK) – It cannot be ruled out that the return of Prime Minister Andrej Babis’s ANO to the talks on the new government with the Social Democrats (CSSD) is just a trick with which to reassure the public, Petr Fiala, leader of the Czech Civic Democratic Party (ODS), told journalists today.
Afterwards, ANO may turn again to the Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) and the Communists (KSCM), Fiala said.
Not Babis, but someone else from ANO should form the government as this would unblock the current situation, he added.
No one has any idea of the strategy ANO has adopted for the government-forming talks, Fiala said.
“There is absolute chaos in the negotiations and we still have no deadlines by which something should happen,” he added.
“If ANO returns to the CSSD, there is still the question of who will back the government. And if these are the Communists, this is no sensible solution either,” Fiala said.
“I cannot rule out that this is another trick with which to reassure the public. All of this may be heading towards an ANO one-colour government with the backing of the SPD and the KSCM,” Fiala said.
In the long run, Babis wants to be the prime minister at any cost and head a one-colour government, while President Milos Zeman insists on having a government backed by ANO, SPD and KSCM, he added.
There are also other options to form a government, Fiala said.
“Since Babis was unable or did not want to form a government with the confidence of the Chamber of Deputies, there is the logical step that the second try should be given to someone else,” he added.
Fiala said the Social Democrats and Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL) were willing to enter a government without Babis who is criminally prosecuted.
Fiala is due to meet Zeman next week on Tuesday.
He said he was not about to ask Zeman to name someone else, not Babis to lead the government-forming talks. “We are in a political crisis to which we were pushed by the steps taken by ANO and Babis. I wonder how Zeman, who has all the cards in his hands, wants to proceed,” Fiala said.