ANO, the Motorists and Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) will continue talks this week focused on agreeing the programme of their proposed future coalition government. However, the talks will take place without ANO leader Andrej Babis, the probable future Czech prime minister who announced on social media yesterday that he will be taking a holiday next week.
The negotiations will therefore be led by ANO deputy leaders Karel Havlicek and Alena Schillerova.
In the same video, Babis criticised outgoing Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky (Spolu), saying he was paying for his own holiday, while Lipavsky was on holiday in the United States funded by taxpayers’ money.
Lipavsky is in the United States to formally take over the new seat of the Czech Embassy in Washington. “Yes, they bought a building there, but there’s a government shutdown, so it’s absolutely nothing,” said Babis.
In response, Lipavsky said that the new embassy building is a concrete result of the work of the outgoing government on behalf of the Czech Republic. “Near the White House, alongside the British, Indians, Japanese and Koreans,” he wrote on social media. “We want to be seen there. It will benefit all of us, the citizens of the Czech Republic, so don’t talk nonsense and get to work.”
Lipavsky criticised Babis for going on holiday at this moment. “How is it possible that you are taking a vacation instead of forming the government? Now is the time to discuss the future of the country,” he said.
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“Next week we will be negotiating on the government’s policy statement. Karel Havlicek and Alena Schillerova, our experts, are negotiating for us,” Babis said in the video today.
In the future cabinet, ANO should have nine posts including the prime minister, the SPD three and the Motorists four.