Czech billionaire Andrej Babiš is assembling a coalition government with nationalist partners after his party ANO won 35% of the vote, a move that could tilt policy on the EU and Ukraine. “At the moment a coalition government is being stitched. And the key figure is Mr. Andrej Babiš and his party ANO, which won 35%,” Rupnik, a Czech-French political scientist and professor at Sciences Po in Paris, told On the Record. To secure a majority, “he decided to make a coalition with two right-wing nationalist parties — the Party of Motorists and the Party for Direct Democracy, led by Tomio Okamura.” Rupnik said Babiš is transactional—“he comes from business and he's not an ideologist”—but has “joined the Patriots, the club created by Viktor Orbán, basically nationalist, sovereignist, Eurosceptic parties.” On Ukraine, Babiš “doesn't block economic support or aid, for refugees,” yet “he's against military support for Ukraine,” Rupnik said, adding, “I don't see Babiš continuing this initiative” on the Czech-brokered ammunition effort. Czech President Petr Pavel urged continuity in defense support: “As for the ammunition initiative, I truly consider it important… our credibility depends vitally on the deliveries of ammunition through the Czech initiative,” Pavel said. Babiš, meanwhile, signaled that future aid to Ukraine would flow via Brussels: “We are helping Ukraine through the EU… this is the way how we will continue to help,” he said. Regionally, Rupnik said the Visegrád Group format has fractured: “Basically politically, Visegrád is dead,” with Warsaw gravitating toward Nordic-Baltic and Weimar Triangle cooperation.
