The most likely future government of the Czech Republic may be less supportive of Ukraine, but is unlikely to block military aid to Kyiv if it is in the Czech interests, including in international forums.
This view was expressed to Ukrinform by Jakub Eberle, Associate Professor at the Institute of International Studies, Charles University.
“I think from Ukraine’s perspective, the election result is not a positive one. It is quite clear that the next government, whoever it is, will do less than the current government, and its stance toward Ukraine and Ukrainians in the Czech Republic will be less friendly. But it’s not yet clear how bad this will be for Ukraine,” Eberle said.
The expert pointed out that after the elections, the leader of the ANO bloc and election winner, Andrej Babiš, “walked back” his statements regarding the ammunition initiative, which he previously promised to halt if re-elected head of government. Thus, Eberle does not believe that the Czech Republic will complicate support for Ukraine — especially at the European level — or block decisions in the way that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has done.
“We can expect that Babiš will try to position the Czech Republic to join some less visible form of support. It’s more likely that the Czech Republic will approach this pragmatically,” Eberle noted.
He recalled that Babiš is a businessman, and much will depend on how decisions affect his business. The expert believes that in aspects of aid where there is economic benefit, Babiš will not hinder Czech producers supplying armaments to Ukraine. Similarly, Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico has not ceased Slovak deliveries — he simply does not want to pay for them.
“If there are profitable investments for Czech enterprises, Babiš will be among the first to support them,” Eberle suggests. The expert emphasised that there are multiple possible versions of Babiš, since he is a very flexible politician, making it difficult to predict exactly how he will act if he heads the government.
“I would not forecast that it will be something like what we see with Fico or Orbán,” he added.
As reported, Czech parliamentary elections took place on October 3–4. The political force of billionaire Andrej Babiš — ANO — won decisively with 34.5% of the vote, which, however, is not sufficient to form a government without partners.
As Ukrinform reported earlier, the candidate for the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, Babiš, proposes to fund weapons for Ukraine through the European Union.