Final Word from Monday, February 19, 2018

Andrej Babiš has said repeatedly that he doesn't want to have to rely on Tomio Okamura's SPD for forming a new government, and even many of his political adversaries believe him, because of how this would hurt his image in the EU. Yet Miloš Zeman stated in his speech to ČSSD's congress yesterday that Babiš has two potential partners in addition to ČSSD and that these three (ANO, SPD, KSČM) could easily have a majority in Parliament without ČSSD. Zeman detests disloyalty and can't allow anyone to think he's abandoning Okamura, who helped him win reelection. Yet Zeman's apparent real aim is a one-party ANO government supported actively by ČSSD and at least part of KSČM. The numbers add up (together they have 108 seats in Parliament), but does it pass the democratic test? Unless STAN or someone else steps up at the last minute, this is the new Czech question: Are Communists who don't want Czexit respectable enough to present to Europe? [Czech Republic European Union]