Populist billionaire Babiš 'joined politics for business', will not oppose EU

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00:00A parliamentary election in the Czech Republic on Friday and Saturday could deprive Ukraine of a staunch supporter

00:05and put the Czechs on a course away from the European mainstream.

00:09Billionaire Andrzej Babush is predicted to be the latest populist leader in Central Europe to stage an electoral comeback

00:15as opinion polls put him on course for victory over a pro-Western coalition that defeated him some four years ago.

00:22And if this is the case, it could mean the Czech Republic falls into line with Slovakia and Hungary in taking a pro-Putin stance.

00:31Let's take a look then at Andrzej Babush and his credentials as the next possible Czech leader.

00:37Selina Sykes with this.

00:41These red caps may look a little bit familiar, though the slogan is Strong Czechia or the Czech Republic.

00:47The people attending this rally in Prague are here to see Andrzej Babush.

00:56Dubbed as a Czech Trump, the 71-year-old billionaire is a frontrunner in the country's upcoming parliamentary election.

01:03And like the US president, he is hoping to stage a political comeback.

01:08Making his fortune through his agrochemical empire,

01:11Babush founded the centrist pro-European Action of Dissatisfied Citizens Party, or ANO, in 2011.

01:20After serving as finance minister and deputy prime minister from 2014 to 2017,

01:27Babush was appointed as prime minister and led a centre-left coalition until 2021.

01:32But since then, his politics have taken a turn.

01:38Named in the Pandora Papers and accused of badly handling the COVID pandemic,

01:42Babush lost a 2021 parliamentary election.

01:46Two years later, he was beaten in the vote for president.

01:50In recent years, analysts say his ANO party has veered to the right.

01:54In 2024, Babush left the leftist alliance in the European Parliament

01:59and joined forces with Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán

02:02to create the patriots of Europe for the right-wing and far-right.

02:08We are here together because we are united by three main priorities

02:12that will define our policy in the European Union.

02:14The defence of sovereignty, the fight against illegal migration

02:17and the revision of the Green Deal.

02:19He is now running on a populist anti-immigration and EU-skeptical ticket,

02:26pledging to cut individual and corporate taxes

02:28and fight the EU's Green Agenda and Migration Pact.

02:32He also wants to end the Czech initiative

02:34to supply Western-funded artillery ammunition to Ukraine.

02:40Let's get the analysis and bring in Romain Lequinou,

02:42who is the co-founder and managing director of EuroCreative,

02:44a French think tank exclusively dedicated to Central and Eastern Europe

02:49and to strengthen relations, political, economic, societal and cultural

02:53between France and such countries.

02:56These obviously include the Czech Republic.

02:58Romain, thanks for being with us.

02:59What's your take on the situation then regarding this man

03:02who's undergone a real sea change politically,

03:05being one thing at the beginning and now being,

03:07it seems, completely different?

03:11Yes, that's true.

03:12I understand that many people in Europe today are afraid

03:15about the consequences of a potential return of Andrei Babiš.

03:20But we have to say that this is a situation

03:22where we don't really know how it will evolve

03:25for the simple reason that, yes, Mr. Babiš is likely

03:28to become the next prime minister of the Czech Republic,

03:31but at the same time, we don't know how and with whom

03:34he will form a coalition.

03:36So there are many scenarios at the moment,

03:37which means that he can form a government

03:40with a simple majority and rely on external forces

03:44to plan some actions in the government.

03:47He can also ally with part of the former government

03:50because, as has been said in the report,

03:53Andrei Babiš, two main political directions

03:57are national and domestic.

03:59And it is especially about the Green Deal.

04:01He's very opposed to this, as well as a stance

04:04that is very radical when it comes to immigration.

04:07And on this, he can ally with part of the former government.

04:10At the same time, and this is the dramatic scenario

04:12that could happen in the next few days,

04:16Andrei Babiš could also align with either far right,

04:19so the SPD of Tomio Okamura from the far right,

04:23as well as, or with the far left, Stachilo,

04:27which is made of an alliance, especially with communists.

04:31We've seen a report before you joined us,

04:35of which featured in the images we showed there,

04:38the Czech candidate Babiš shaking hands with Viktor Orban.

04:41And of course, in Slovakia, Robert Fisko

04:44has taken control there too.

04:46There is this anti-Europe sweep across Central Europe.

04:50Why is that happening?

04:51And is this likely to push Babiš into power?

04:54Well, there is some Eurosceptic, let's say,

05:00not anti-European, but Eurosceptic movement

05:03and part of the population in Czech Republic.

05:05We know that.

05:05It's not new.

05:07It has increased over the past few years, that's for sure,

05:10because of the economic situation,

05:12because of the fear of war.

05:14This is a certainty.

05:15But we cannot compare Mr. Babiš with Mr. Orban or Mr. Fisko.

05:19I think that Mr. Babiš is someone that is veeing toward more sovereignism.

05:26This is why he joined the Patriots for Europe

05:28after being expelled from ALDE.

05:31But at the same time, he's not anti-EU.

05:33He doesn't want to leave the EU.

05:35He's not anti-NATO.

05:36He's a strong proponent of the transatlantic relations.

05:40So here we have to say that, yes,

05:43Babiš will turn Czech Republic into a more isolationist,

05:46into a more sovereignist country.

05:48That's for sure.

05:49And it will create some headaches for Brussels.

05:51But at the same time, we should not forget that Andrei Babiš is a businessman.

05:55He joined politics for business.

05:57And what he needs the most is EU funds.

06:00So he will not take a proactive opposition line towards Brussels.

06:04He will try to find some agreement.

06:06He will try to follow the main consensus lines in Brussels.

06:10And on this, we can assume that it will not be too vocal

06:14when it comes to Ukraine and Russia.

06:15It's certainly not pro-Russian.

06:17But at the same time, he's defending the line which is quite similar to Trump, actually,

06:23which is that the war needs to end, first and foremost,

06:27because it's affecting Czech Republic and Europe, economically speaking.

06:31So it will be his line.

06:32It doesn't mean that he will be opposing and putting vetoes like Orban or Fitzpatrick.

06:37You've anticipated my next question.

06:40Is it fair to call him the Czech Trump or is that a step too far, do you think?

06:46You know, there is a lot of, let's say, communication from Babiš.

06:53And he likes to play this game because especially he has a very catch-all party

06:57and he wants to attract as many as voters as possible.

07:00And he started politics attracting people who are anti-corruption,

07:05who wanted to have a change to put the system away from the politics in Czech Republic.

07:10At the same time, he tried also to attract more radical people,

07:14and especially people who are, you know, very radical, to be honest.

07:18And this is how he tries to portray himself as Trump,

07:22because he wants to say that he's the one defending the Czech nation,

07:25he's the one defending the Czech population against the bureaucrats from Brussels.

07:31He's trying to say that he's the only one that put the Czech national interest

07:35in the first place of his political action.

07:38And this is why he's saying that he's, you know,

07:40this representative of strong Czech Republic, for example.

07:43Romola Kinyo, thank you very much, Adi, for joining us

07:45and giving us that insight ahead of the Czech.

07:47Elections coming up this weekend with Babiš tipped to return to power.

07:52Not quite the bitter pill for Europe, as some people are suggesting,

07:57but Román there certainly telling us that Babiš's first, second and third priorities

08:02will be the Czech Republic and then perhaps their EU afterwards.

08:07A businessman with a very pragmatic approach to all matters,

08:10so we wait to see what happens there.

08:13Thanks again, of course, to Román Le Quigny from Euro Creative,

08:17the think tank, for joining us there.

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