Communist Backed Government Possible Thanks To CSSD

Andrej Babis and Milos Zeman

Prague, June 15 (CTK) – The Social Democrats (CSSD) will allow the creation of a coalition government with the backing from the Communists (KSCM), opposition leaders said in reaction to the Social Democrats having approved their joining the cabinet along with Prime Minister Andrej Babis’s ANO today.

 

The Social Democrats approved their entry into a coalition government with the ANO movement in their intra-party referendum, in which 58.5 percent voted for this coalition and 40.2 opposed it.

 

“The CSSD board did its utmost to convince its rank-and-file that under President Milos Zeman’s auspices, a semi-Communist government of ANO, the CSSD and the KSCM can be formed,” Petr Fiala, the leader of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS), said.

 

A few weeks ago already, the CSSD gave up a fight for the creation of a government without Communists, he added.

 

The government of ANO, the CSSD, the KSCM and Zeman will not be a partner, but a rival for the ODS, which will go to extreme lengths to reduce the impact of its rule as much as possible, Fiala said.

 

The CSSD has made the decision in conflict with its own resolutions, the Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL) said.

 

“The resolution refused the cooperation with the KSCM as inadmissible,” the party said in a press release.

 

A Social Democrat resolution from 1995, approved in Bohumin, north Moravia, banned cooperation with the KSCM on the governmental level.

 

“The narrow outcome of the referendum proves that for many Social Democrats, this commitment is not obsolete. The same goes for the resolution on the participation of a criminally prosecuted person in the government. In February, a CSSD congress passed the resolution saying the Social Democrats will not enter a government along with a criminally prosecuted person,” the party said.

 

Billionaire Babis is criminally prosecuted over an EU subsidy fraud.

 

The Social Democrats have decided to repeat their alliance with ANO, this time as a junior partner, Jiri Pospisil, leader of TOP 09, said.

 

“In addition, there are the Communists and Tomio Okamura [leader of the anti-EU Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD)] whenever needed. We are ahead of a government of repressions, red-tape and money squandering instead of investments,” Pospisil has tweeted.

 

Under the coalition agreement with ANO, the Social Democrats are to fill five ministerial posts. Their nominees would head the interior, foreign affairs, labour and social affairs, agriculture and culture ministries.

 

Babis is to present the names of all proposed ministers to President Milos Zeman on Sunday.