Czech Republic: Babiš faces retrial
The Czech Republic's highest court has overturned former Prime Minister Andrej Babiš's acquittal on charges of subsidy fraud. Now the Prague district court must clarify whether Babiš illegally received EU subsidies as an entrepreneur. Babiš has described the allegations as politically motivated. Commentators focus on how the ruling will affect the upcoming parliamentary elections.
He would be an embarrassment of a PM
Respekt assesses the situation three and a half months ahead of the Czech parliamentary elections in which Babiš has been leading the polls:
“Andrej Babiš won't step down. He is demanding that everyone else does, but he sees himself as above the system. He thinks he's different, he wants and demands special treatment. ... The fact is, of course, that a country in which someone like this looks set to win the election, itself comes across as dubious and contemptible. The prime minister is supposed to be the guarantor of the rule of law and compliance with regulations. A person who tried to deprive his citizens of subsidies should not become prime minister. The Czech Republic does not deserve such a humiliation.”
Really going on the offensive now
Babiš will now take on "the system" like never before, warns Hospodářské noviny:
“On the day the court ruled that he is not innocent and is probably just a common subsidy fraudster, Andrej Babiš declared that he regretted ever having gone into politics. And he repeated that this was a political set-up. ... He wants to show his voters that it is 'the system' that is unjustly dragging him through the courts, tormenting and destroying him. In this way he is slyly suggesting to his voters that they demand the destruction of the system as such and give him free rein, no matter how harshly he treats his opponents. This makes him truly dangerous.”
No one needs such martyrdom
Journalist Viliam Buchert resorts to sarcasm in Reflex:
“Andrej Babiš has repeatedly claimed that he regrets entering politics. But no one forced him to do so, or is forcing him to continue. There is no politician this nation needs so urgently that he should have to sacrifice his own interests for our sake. ... There are other things Babiš should regret. Becoming a member of the totalitarian Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, for example, or the scandal over his contacts with the former secret police, or his career in subsidy fraud, or the way he led the country during the Covid pandemic. And the Czech Republic may well regret it if he becomes prime minister again.”