Final Word from Tuesday, May 11, 2021

Opposition parties that will try to give the government of Andrej Babiš a vote of no-confidence in the coming weeks know that even if they achieve their goal, Andrej Babiš will probably remain as the Czech prime minister until the parliamentary elections in Oct. and beyond. They will have no leverage for forcing Pres. Miloš Zeman to appoint an interim technocratic government. Those who want to bring down Babiš must nevertheless be ready to present an alternative, otherwise they'll look unprepared to rule. One possible tactic is to propose a government that emphasizes the very things that bother the democratic opposition and the pro-opposition media the most: Zeman's favoritism of Russia, and Babiš's kowtowing to Zeman's ministerial demands. From this perspective, the ideal PM candidate is Dir. Michal Koudelka of BIS. His ministers could include such "favorites" of Zeman and Babiš as Tomáš Petříček, Jan Blatný, Martin Netolický, Irena Storová and Petr Kolář. The democratic opposition could argue that if an agent is to run the government, it should at least be one who is on the right side of history. [ Czech Republic health ČSSD ANO ex-diplomat foreign minister remove spies spy espionage counterintelligence ]