On November 11, Czech President Milos Zeman accepted the resignation of the government of Andrei Babis.

At the same time, members of the Cabinet of Ministers will continue to fulfill their duties until the formation of a new composition of the executive body.

Earlier, the government, which includes members of the ANO movement and the Czech Social Democratic Party, sent a letter of resignation to the president, who is being treated at the Central Military Hospital.

The dissolution of the current Cabinet was the result of parliamentary elections that took place in the Czech Republic on October 8 and 9.

The coalition "Together" won the most votes then - in total, 27.79% of Czech citizens cast their votes for the right-wing liberal Civic Democratic Party, Christian Democrats and the TOP 09 party.

The second place was taken by Andrei Babis' centrist movement ANO, which gained 27.12%.

The PirSTAN bloc (Pirate Party and Movement of the Headman and Independents) received 15.62% of the vote.

  • Andrey Babish

  • © REUTERS / Bernadett Szabo

At the same time, the Czech Social Democratic Party and the Communist Party of the Czech Republic and Moravia could not even overcome the barrier to entry and did not get into the new parliament.

As Vadim Trukhachev, a teacher at the Department of Foreign Regional Studies and Foreign Policy at the Historical and Archival Institute of the Russian State University for the Humanities, noted in a commentary to RT, the opposition won the election against Andrei Babish's ANO movement only due to the fact that it was able to join forces and assemble a coalition.

“Babiš is by no means a new figure for the Czech Republic, everyone is well aware of the corruption scandals in which he is accused.

Someone was annoyed by this, but many citizens still voted for him.

But in the current elections, Babis's opponents from among the "Euro-Atlantic" parties were able to rally and organize two blocs.

Former ANO coalition allies have lost their positions, for example, the Czech Social Democratic Party, which did not get into the new parliament, ”the expert explained.

Confrontational bias

The lower house of the Czech parliament - the Chamber of Deputies - has already chosen a speaker, it was the leader of the TOP 09 party, Market Pekarova-Adamova.

The name of the future Prime Minister of the Czech Republic is also known - he will be the chairman of the Civic Democratic Party Petr Fiala.

This is stipulated by the agreements concluded by the parties that are members of the Together and PirSTAN blocs.

The politicians have already signed a coalition agreement.

The document spells out in detail all the principles that the new government of the Czech Republic intends to follow: the agreement proclaims a course towards restoring the foreign policy traditions of Vaclav Havel, the last president of Czechoslovakia and the first president of an independent Czech Republic.

  • Parliamentary elections in the Czech Republic

  • © REUTERS / Bernadett Szabo

The new government of the republic intends to focus on the theme of human rights protection and upholding democratic values, since in the past such a policy "was able to ensure" the Czech Republic "a central place in European politics," the authors of the document say.

“We will seek the adoption of a law that would allow the imposition of sanctions for gross violations of human rights - the so-called Magnitsky law,” the agreement says.

Human rights pathos is combined in the document with a militaristic line.

So, by 2025, the ruling coalition intends to bring the country's defense spending to 2% of GDP, as required by NATO standards, and fix this limit at the legislative level.

“We will work to ensure that the Alliance strengthens the defenses of its eastern wing, where we will accordingly increase the participation of the Army of the Czech Republic,” the Czech Radio quotes the document.

It is membership in the North Atlantic Alliance that the coalition considers to be the basis of the Czech Republic's defense policy against the backdrop of confrontation with Russia.

“We will strive to ensure that NATO will continue to maintain not only readiness for action, but also political unity and the possibility of geopolitical unification of the West to counter external threats (primarily Russia),” the coalition agreement emphasizes.

  • Czech military at NATO exercises

  • globallookpress.com

  • © Jaroslav Ozana

It is worth noting that the agreement pays special attention to Russia - the parties that won the elections intend to revise their relations with Moscow.

Even commercial cooperation with Russia in the field of nuclear energy causes fears among the new Czech authorities: the parties agreed to support the construction of a new nuclear power unit in Dukoviny, but on condition that it will not be built by Russian or Chinese companies.

But the politicians who won the elections intend to strengthen and develop relations with Washington, this is also stated in the document.

"Replay dislike"

The victory of the liberal parties in the elections and the formation of a coalition coincided in time with the illness of Czech President Milos Zeman, known for his balanced approach to foreign policy issues.

The politician was hospitalized immediately after the parliamentary elections, he was taken to the hospital in an ambulance.

Subsequently, the media, citing sources in the medical institution, reported that Zeman was in the intensive care unit for patients at high risk to life.

However, the politician was on the mend - in early November he was transferred to a regular ward, a spokesman for the Czech Central Military Hospital said.

  • Milos Zeman

  • © REUTERS / David W Cerny

Like Andrei Babis, the Czech president has been repeatedly attacked by politicians from among the winning parties in the last elections.

So, in March 2018, a deputy of the lower house of parliament, a member of the Civil Democratic Party, Miroslava Nemtsova, accused the president of high treason because of his position on the Skripals case.

Let us remind you that Zeman then expressed doubts about the validity of the accusations against Moscow of an attempt on the life of a former GRU agent.

A repeated attack on the Czech president was undertaken in the summer of 2021 - then the parliamentary opposition tried to impeach the president because of his position on the situation around the Vrbetica bombings.

At the same time, MPs from opposition parties tried to pass a vote of no confidence in the Cabinet of Ministers of Babish.

The politician was accused of corruption, failure to ensure international solidarity in the diplomatic conflict with Russia, and failure to cope with the coronavirus pandemic. 

According to experts, it was anti-Russian sentiments, as well as hostility to Milos Zeman and Andrei Babis, who traditionally advocate greater independence of the Czech Republic from the EU, that rallied the opposition parties and allowed them to win.

“The main thing that unites all parties that have entered the ruling coalition is hostility towards the incumbent president, adherence to the Euro-Atlantic course and a confrontational attitude towards Russia.

These politicians are convinced that the basis of Czech foreign policy should be following the Euro-Atlantic course, the decisions of the EU and NATO, ”Vadim Trukhachev noted.

A similar opinion is shared by Nikita Danyuk, Deputy Director of the Institute for Strategic Studies and Forecasts of the RUDN University, a member of the Public Chamber of Russia.

In an interview with RT, the expert recalled that in the spring of 2021, against the background of anti-Russian attacks, the Czech Republic was included in the list of countries unfriendly to Russia.

“There is nothing surprising in the fact that anti-Russian forces have now won the elections in the Czech Republic.

The events of recent years indicate that the Czech Republic, along with Poland and the Baltic States, has become another outpost of Russophobic policy among the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, ”the expert said.

  • globallookpress.com

  • © Piero Castellano

At the same time, the information campaign launched by Czech politicians against Russia in the media also affects the mood of the population of the republic, Danyuk noted.

“Now, in the conditions of this informational pressure, it is no longer possible not to blame Russia for everything.

And during the election campaign, anti-Russian rhetoric reached a special intensity.

However, after the new government starts to work, it is possible that it will nevertheless begin to behave more constructively.

Much depends on whether the new Prague policy will be sovereign, or it will continue the course of unquestioning adherence to the anti-Russian directives dictated from Brussels and Washington, ”the expert added.

In turn, Vadim Trukhachev sees no reason for optimism.

The expert is confident that with the arrival of the new authorities in the Czech Republic, Russian-Czech relations will rapidly degrade even from the low level at which they are now.

“The future Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, Petr Fiala, is openly hostile to Russia.

Given this, nothing good can be expected.

I believe that it will be possible to put an end to Russian-Czech relations in the coming years.

And, most likely, the Czech government will try to outplay even Poland and the Baltic states in hostility to Russia, ”the expert summed up.