The European Commission decides who will be prime minister in EU member states with its financial power, former Czech prime minister and ANO (Renewal) party leader Andrej Babiš said at a meeting in parliament on Wednesday.
Andrej Babiš claimed during the meeting:
The European Commission – unelected officials who have hundreds of billions of euros at their disposal – want to decide, through money, who will be prime minister of which country.
He said the EU Commission had blocked funding for Hungary and Poland because of political antipathies. Babiš noted:
In Hungary, they did not succeed, that is why they withheld €32 billion from [Hungarian prime minister] Orbán. Now they do not like [Slovakian prime minister] Fico before they did not like [former Polish prime minister] Morawiecki, and they withheld €38 billion from him.
The European Commission has frozen a certain amount of EU funding to Hungary and Poland because the two countries have violated EU principles, in particular the rule of law.
Before blocking access to funding, the Commission made recommendations to improve the situation in both countries. The EU is also currently discussing a possible cut in funding to Slovakia, as the new government of Robert Fico has implemented controversial reforms in the area of justice and prosecution of corruption.
Babiš then stated that the EU is the reason for high energy prices. He said the EU should not “interfere in things” such as energy and should only deal with “Schengen, the four fundamental freedoms and the internal market”. He also criticised the EU for dictating how EU funds should be used.
According to various opinion polls, the ANO party is currently the most popular political party in the Czech Republic, gaining over 30% support. The party is currently in opposition.
