Pavel's pro-European plan for Babiš

On election night in 2021, after it was clear that Spolu had narrowly defeated ANO, one of Czech TV's preferred political commentators said that, like Viktor Orbán, Andrej Babiš represented a threat to liberal democracy. The absolute worst thing, the analyst said, was the way Babiš showed obvious contempt for democratic institutions in his post-election speech. That person was Tomáš Lebeda of Palacký Univ., who is now Pres. Petr Pavel's chief adviser for domestic politics. In this position, Lebeda told Právo in Jan. of this year that Donald Trump's election opened the floodgates for like-minded politicians and that he feared that many populists could lose their last inhibitions. When asked then about the possibility of a Babiš-led minority government, Lebeda said that it could be a possible solution but that it would depend on who kept the government in power and why. After yesterday's meetings at the Castle, it indeed seems that Pavel's advisers will be pushing for a Babiš-led government with someone from Petr Fiala's outgoing coalition as the least-bad solution. Babiš probably also prefers this for his first new government, but he'll let it be Pavel's idea.