Babiš's motley crew
One by one, Andrej Babiš is crossing off the political parties that he can't imagine forming a government with after the parliamentary elections. TOP 09, ČSSD and the Communists all got nixed in his interview with Právo on Saturday. "Who, then, do you plan to enter talks with?" asked Právo. In every party, Babiš responded, there are people you can talk with. For example, he said, there is Education Min. Kateřina Valachová in ČSSD, Sen. Jaroslav Kubera in ODS and Zlín Gov. Jiří Čunek in KDU-ČSL. What is going on here? Is Babiš merely trying to deflect charges that he has no coalition potential? Or is this the first step toward the creation of a cross-party coalition of national unity? Or perhaps national disunity, given how the traditional parties would likely object? Could such a cabinet ever win confirmation in Parliament? Perhaps so, if Miloš Zeman appointed Babiš and then let his cabinet stay in office until enough MPs could be cajoled, bribed and blackmailed.
Glossary of difficult words
motley - incongruously varied in appearance or character; disparate;crew - a group of people who work closely together;
to nix - to put an end to; to cancel; to destroy, delete or otherwise remove;
to deflect - to cause something to change direction;
disunity - disagreement and conflict within a group;
to cajole - to persuade (someone) to do something by sustained coaxing or flattery.