Czech Republic: front-runner Babiš presents programme
Parliamentary elections are scheduled for early October in the Czech Republic. The polls give former Prime Minister Andrej Babiš and his right-wing populist party ANO (Czech for "Yes") a clear lead. The party recently presented its election programme, in which it promises Czechs a better life without explaining how it intends to finance this. Czech commentators are critical.
Just hot air
Forum24 draws parallels with Russia:
“The ANO movement uses the same methods as Russian propaganda. It systematically accuses others of things it itself does. We hear again and again that all the democratic parties [currently in power and led by Prime Minister Petr Fiala] have to offer is an anti-Babiš programme. Yet the ANO movement's press conference was nothing but an anti-Fiala event. That's all we learnt. Apart from the announcement that we'll all be rolling in money. It would be funny if there wasn't a real danger that these people will actually end up in power.”
Chumming up with Orbán and Fico
Hospodářské noviny criticises ANO's foreign policy stance:
“Nothing about aggressive Russia, nothing about its attack on Ukraine. ... National defence is not a priority in ANO's programme. On the contrary, it's one of the last points. No commitment to gradually spend up to five percent of GDP on defence. On the other hand, Babiš promises to reconsider investments [decided by the current government] in modern weapon systems such as F-35 fighter jets. And he explicitly mentions strengthening cooperation within the V4, i.e. Hungary's Viktor Orbán and Slovakia's Robert Fico, the latter of whom marched alongside the world's worst dictators in China a few days ago, including Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un.”