On December 9, the right-wing European skeptical political leader, Andrej Babis, was sworn in as Prime Minister of the Czech Republic. The 71-year-old veteran politician served as Prime Minister from 2017-2021, and was previously Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister.
In a short thank you post on X, Mr. Babis expressed his gratitude to voters for trusting in his party.
I promise to be a Prime Minister who protects the interests of all our citizens at home and abroad, and works to make the Czech Republic the most livable place on the planet, Babis wrote.
Speaking at Prague Castle after the appointment ceremony, Mr. Babis said that he would strongly debate with the European Union (EU) not only the issue of aid to Ukraine but also the issue of energy, value-added tax (VAT) and tariffs.
New Prime Minister Babis also pledged to reject the EU's immigration policy and plans to cut carbon emissions.
Mr. Babis has long promised to shift the government's focus to domestic issues, criticizing the aid for Ukraine under former Prime Minister Petr Fiala. At that time, Prague initiated a relatively large international ammunition procurement program for Kiev.
We will not give Ukraine a penny from the budget to buy weapons, Babis said shortly after his party won the election.
However, despite a commitment to stop budgeting for Kiev, he still signaled that Czech defense enterprises would continue to export to Ukraine.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who also criticized military aid to Ukraine, sent his congratulations to Babis. A passionate Czech patriot has returned to leadership, Mr. Orban wrote on X.
