Final Word from Monday, June 10, 2019

Andrej Babiš is under pressure from street protesters, the opposition and part of the media to resign as Czech PM, but he at least has the full support of his own party. Not so ČSSD's cabinet ministers. They're under attack from within their own ranks to leave the coalition. Pilsen Gov. Josef Bernard, who attended one of the demonstrations, told Právo that it isn't his place to advise ČSSD's leadership what to do but that it must be able to evaluate the situation and to find a solution that avoids losing face. If ČSSD made an ultimatum to Babiš about the protesters' demands and then slammed the door on Babiš when he failed to meet them, as Bernard apparently wants, it could give ČSSD the upper hand politically. Babiš apparently senses this and made the not-so-veiled threat in LN last week that if ČSSD doesn't stop attacking him, things won't turn out well. His original one-party minority government worked great, he said. The coalition government might be headed for a forced showdown: The ministers of neither side want a gunfight, but the ones who draw and shoot first might come out of it the best. [ Czech Republic Lidové noviny resignation demonstrators ]