PRAGUE (Reuters) -Populist Czech billionaire Andrej Babis’s ANO party signed a coalition deal with fringe right-wing allies on Monday, moving closer to regaining power after winning a vote on promises of hiking spending and opposing EU climate and migration policies.
Babis, a 71-year-old former prime minister, is joining forces with the Motorists party, which is sceptical about climate change, and the SPD party, which is against the European Union and NATO.
Together, the three parties hold 108 seats in the 200-member lower house of parliament. Babis has said he wants to form a government by mid-December, in time to pass a 2026 budget and attend the final EU leaders’ summit of the year.
A TURN AWAY FROM AIDING UKRAINE
An ANO-led cabinet, if appointed, will replace a centre-right government that was focused on reining in budget deficits and backing Ukraine against Russia’s invasion.
Babis, who was prime minister from 2017-2021, has promised to end a Czech-led and foreign-funded programme supplying ammunition to Kyiv. He has also pledged to end any aid for Ukraine from the Czech budget, saying he wants to use that money for his citizens instead.
Babis is taking a more combative approach to the EU, promising to reject the bloc’s planned allowance scheme for households due to start in 2027, which could set up a legal clash with the EU.
The coalition’s draft agenda says the EU’s Green Deal decarbonisation plan was “unsustainable” and the 2035 target of ending sales of petrol engines “unacceptable”.
(Reporting by Jan Lopatka and Jason Hovet; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
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