Babiš promises to cancel Czech initiative if he returns to power
The Czech Republic's successful efforts to supply artillery shells to Ukraine have been criticized by a populist party that is leading in polls ahead of the country's October parliamentary elections. This was reported by the newspaper Politico.
ANO party leader and former Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš said the initiative costs too much taxpayer money that should be spent "on our own people." He called the initiative "rotten" and said it would be canceled if he returned to power.
"Based on the information we have, it involves inadequate profit margins, poor quality and questionable suppliers. For these reasons, this should be done at the NATO level," said Karel Havlicek, Deputy Chairman of the ANO.
The Czech government under Prime Minister Peter Fiala has defended the munitions initiative. Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said in a meeting with Czech ambassadors last month that stopping the initiative would be a gift to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.
"Those who talk about this are gambling with Europe's security," he added .
According to Czech President Peter Pavel, before this initiative, Russia had a tenfold advantage over Ukraine in artillery ammunition, and now this ratio has decreased to 1:2 in favor of Moscow.
Last year, the Czech Republic coordinated the delivery of 1.5 million large-caliber ammunition with financial contributions from 14 countries. This year, according to the head of the Intergovernmental Agency for Defense Cooperation, Aleš Vitečka, it aims to transfer 1.8 million rounds.
He emphasized that the government strives to be as transparent as possible, but noted that some information needs to be withheld from the public.
Parliamentary elections in the Czech Republic will be held on October 3-4. The results of most opinion polls show that the populist ANO party will win. In particular, according to a Politico poll, Babiš's party has the support of 32% of voters, while the coalition of the current prime minister has 21%.
- In July, Babiš already threatened that if his political force wins the elections, the government will cancel the initiative to supply ammunition to Ukraine. Fiala said at the time that canceling the initiative would be a big mistake.
- As of July 17, Ukraine received 850,000 artillery shells of various calibers under the Czech initiative.
Comments