Page 10 - bne_newspaper_October_27_2017

Central Europe
October 27, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 10
vestigated by the police for an alleged defrauding of the EU over a small and medium sized busi- ness subsidy and the establishment parties are generally refusing to countenance working with him unless his innocence is established.
It remains possible that Babis, who insists he is pro-EU membership but has picked up a lot of votes by warning Brussels against over-reach and promising voters that he will not take Czechia into
the eurozone at least for the next four years, may opt for a minority government.
Ano won 78 seats in the election compared to the SPD's 22. Both parties also appealed to voters in the country of 10.6mn by saying that they would not accept immigrants under EU quota schemes, while Babis may agree to SPD's policy that a law should be introduced to allow referendums on matters such as EU membership.
Fears that move against “social dumping” of Eastern European workers may feed anti-EU feelings
bne IntelliNews
The Czech Republic’s employment minister has warned that attempts to excessively curb the freedom of workers from Eastern Europe to work in Western Europe would feed anti-EU sentiment in her country.
Michaela Marksova spoke out after on October 24 EU ministers gathered in Luxembourg dealt with French concerns over “posted” cheap foreign labour described as “social dumping”. After a marathon
12 hours of negotiations, they agreed to substan- tially tighten rules on migrant workers. Marksova's warning also came following the runaway victory at the weekend of populist billionaire's eurosceptic Ano party in Czechia's general election.
“Any further steps taken from the EU level which would indicate disrespect to the central eastern European countries may very soon lead to an
SIGN UP FOR
A FREE DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTION TO BNE’S MAGAZINE
Sign up to bne IntelliNews’ monthly e-magazine for free, delivered to your inbox each month.
We cover business, economics, finance and politics of the 30 countries of emerging Europe and central Asia.
While other news outlets report on what is happening, we look at why with our in-depth analysis.
To get the e-version of our monthly magazine fill out the form here.
Or go to bne.eu/welcome to see samples of this and other products.