Page 12 - bne_newspaper_November_24_2017

Central Europe
November 24, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 12
EU. Both, like President Zeman, are apologists for Vladimir Putin’s Russia. Both parties would sup- port referenda on EU or Nato membership. Opin- ion polls show that Czechs could vote to leave the EU, but Nato membership still remains popular.
Babis opposes sanctions on Russia and is criti- cal of the EU, particularly over migration, and has toyed with the idea of changing the constitution to enable holding a binding referendum on EU mem- bership, something also supported by President Zeman. Nevertheless Babis backs continued EU membershipand it is likely that any referendum bill would have to specifically exclude the EU to win sufficient parliamentary support.
Even if Babis fails to win the first confidence vote he would remain as premier and could stay in office until well into next year, because he looks likely to be given several attempts to secure par- liamentary backing.
President Zeman has already declared that he will give Babis two attempts to form a government. Zeman has been openly supporting Babis, who
in return has so far declined to back any rival to Zeman in the upcoming presidential election in January.
The new Ano speaker will choose the third and last candidate for PM, if that becomes necessary, so Babis can effectively block another party’s at- tempt to form a government, something that is anyway very unlikely given Ano’s convincing elec- tion victory and the fragmented make-up of the new parliament.
Immediately he is nominated as PM, Babis, the country’s second richest man, can install his own nominees in state-owned companies such as en- ergy giant CEZ, which he has attacked as a CSSD fiefdom, and Cepro, the pipeline company intimate- ly linked with his own agro-chemical empire Agro- fert. Babis, who owns two of the largest Czech daily newspapers, could also try to change the head of public broadcaster Czech Television, which he has accused of being biased against him.
This will heighten longstanding concerns over the inevitable conflicts of interest between his politi- cal and business roles, something that has not properly been addressed by putting Agrofert into a trust where he remains the ultimate beneficiary.
Babis could also try to change who holds key judicial posts such as the Prosecutor General, which could affect the ongoing investigations
into his business and personal affairs, such as his purchase of Agrofert’s entire issue of CZK1 bonds, thereby avoiding tax. Babis was accused of blocking an investigation by his own ministry’s tax police into the affair, while at the same time using tax probes to harass business rivals.
The EU fraud charges, which led to his sacking as finance minister in May, remain his biggest problem. Babis attacked the Czech police on No- vember 21 for submitting an application to lift his parliamentary immunity over their investigation into the Stork Nest conference centre. He is ac- cused of pretending to transfer the project to his family in order to win CZK50mn in EU subsidies designed for small businesses.
“The speed at which they are coming after me again only shows what huge fear the corrupt sys- tem has; how much this old system is afraid of me and how tenaciously they are trying to get me,” Babis told CTK news agency.
Babis' immunity was lifted before the election but as he has now been re-elected, a new vote is needed in the new parliament. It is possible that, with the backing of the Communists and the neo- fascists, the parliamentary immunity committee could now refuse to lift his parliamentary immu- nity, though this would cause an outcry. Whether the Czech police have enough evidence to convict him anyway, however, is questionable.
What Babis cannot control is the investigation by the EU watchdog Olaf into the Stork Nest scandal, a conclusion from which is expected by the end
of this year. Were Olaf to find that there has been fraud, it is difficult to see how he would be able