Final Word from Tuesday, January 15, 2019

ODS remains a party in "fundamental and hard" opposition to the government of Andrej Babiš and has vowed to try to bring it down. A key part of ODS's "Reasonable Alternative for Czechia" declaration last summer was its pledge not to automatically support the government in its foreign-policy and security priorities if the necessary majority were not available in Parliament, and only to consider this if it got one of its own priorities in return. ODS First Vice Chair Alexandra Udženija declared on OVM on Sun. with regard to Huawei and PPF that "when it comes to security, it is always at the top of the list." She added that she thinks Parliament will act as one in amending the public-procurement law for allowing companies to be disqualified on national-security grounds. If they wanted to, ODS and ANO could of course pass such a law on their own. It could mean a rapprochement between the two parties, but also an icy frost between Babiš and Miloš Zeman. [ Czech Republic Huawei ZTE Chinese Czech TV Television Otázky Václava Moravce ]