Million Moments for Petr Pavel

In his much-quoted statement to Czech Radio on Nov. 17, Pres. Petr Pavel said that, "If Andrej Babiš were unable to satisfactorily resolve his conflict of interest, by appointing him I'd be contributing to the creation of an unlawful situation." A few hundred meters away, Million Moments for Democracy hosted an event at which it praised Pavel for defending the country's democratic principles and warned against Babiš. We can't tolerate an abuse of power that gives billions to Agrofert, Chair Mikuláš Minář said. A petition in support of Pa­vel's "firm and level-headed position" has gathered 163,000 signatures. Now that Pavel has determined that Babiš did indeed satisfactorily resolve his conflict of interest, Million Moments is praising the president for making Babiš "promise to try to abide by the law." But we know what promises mean to Babiš, the civic group adds, and it still isn't clear whether there is any real substance to his proclamation. In other words, Million Moments isn't sure that Babiš hasn't tricked Pa­vel into appointing him. Just in case, Million Moments still has an old petition ready from 2018-2021 calling for Babiš's resignation as PM.