The Czech Republic’s political agony will continue for at least another week, following the decision by lawmakers to put off the confidence vote needed to confirm the validity of the new government. The decision yesterday went agains the wishes of president Miloš Zeman, who took the unusual step of addressing a meeting of parliament prior to the scheduled vote. Elections last year were won by the ANO party, led by former finance minister Andrej Babiš, but he failed to win a majority of the seats in parliament. His political rivals from the other parties are nervous about joining Babiš in a coalition government, in part because of a long-festering scandal over his company Agrofert’s allegedly illegal use of EU funds to build the now infamous congress center called Čapí hnízdo (The Stork’s Nest).
The European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) issued a report on its investigation which found irregularities in the project, however the report had been kept secret from the public. The powerful economic daily Hospodářské noviny today published a Czech translation of the entire report on its website. The vote of confidence in Babiš’s proposed minority government has been put off until next week, by which time a parliamentary committee will have decided whether to strip Babiš of immunity, opening him up to investigation by police.
