One month after his election victory, billionaire Andrej Babiš and his party ANO have agreed to form a coalition with the Freedom and Democracy Party (SPD) and the Drivers’ Party (AUTO). Almost 35 years after the so-called “Velvet Revolution,” which Western politicians and the media claimed would bring peace, prosperity and democracy, the Czech Republic is now being governed by openly fascist forces who are pushing through militarisation and social cuts against the population.
ANO, which won 34.5 percent in the parliamentary election, holds a majority of eight seats together with the SPD (7.8 percent) and AUTO (6.8 percent). The previous right-conservative governing parties suffered in some cases heavy losses, and the nominally “left-wing” parties are no longer represented in the new parliament at all.
Babiš had already governed the country from 2017 to 2021 as prime minister in a minority government with the Social Democrats, which was propped up by the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSČM). The KSČM is the successor to the Stalinist Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ), which played a key role in the capitalist restoration in 1989/90. Now, by supporting Babiš, it has paved the way for the far right.
Because of his right-wing, anti-social policies and several corruption allegations, Babiš lost the 2021 elections, with the right-conservative coalition Spolu narrowly defeating ANO. The outgoing prime minister Petr Fiala continued austerity with great severity and received the bill for it last month.
The new government is also centred on militarisation and social cuts. To enforce these, openly fascist forces are now being brought into government.
The SPD, led by Tomio Okamura, is a far-right party. Its election campaign was marked by vile agitation against migrants. The party denies the extermination of Roma during the Holocaust, wants to ban Islam and rejects the admission of any refugees into the Czech Republic. One earlier SPD election poster showed a black man with a blood-stained knife, after which criminal proceedings were initiated for incitement to hatred.
Behind its image as a “drivers’ party,” AUTO also hides a fascist programme. Its chairman Filip Turek is a collector of Nazi memorabilia and has repeatedly made racist comments on social media, including about former US President Barack Obama. Regarding a 2009 arson attack on a Roma family in which a small child was nearly killed, Turek pleaded for “mitigating circumstances” because the victims were Roma. Many of his posts refer to Hitler and Mussolini, as Czech media have reported.
At the founding congress of AUTO’s youth organisation, Motor Generation, in November 2024, participants reportedly displayed signs with slogans such as “I have an SS dagger at home” or “Certified racist.”
The new cabinet posts have not yet been fully settled. Reservations exist especially concerning Turek. Because of his openly displayed fascist attitudes, he may—contrary to earlier plans—be denied the position of foreign minister. Okamura, however, is expected to become the parliamentary speaker. After the president and the prime minister, this is the third-highest office in the state. Grotesquely, Okamura would in this position also be responsible for dialogue with minorities.
The draft coalition agreement already includes lowering corporation tax from 21 to 19 percent. The budget is to keep the deficit below 3 percent of GDP and to be balanced or in surplus in the medium term. To achieve this, massive cuts to pensions, healthcare and education will be necessary. In the coalition agreement, these are only vaguely referred to as cuts in state spending; they are not explicitly named. But all three parties are in full agreement on this question.
Keeping the retirement age at 65, instead of raising it further as planned by the previous government, is a mere statement of intent and can be thrown overboard at any time.
In military policy, the increases in armaments spending to 5 percent of GDP decided by the previous government will not be touched. In addition to this already gigantic agenda of militarisation, the new government wants to further expand the anti-drone programme and increase the number of soldiers.
The inclusion of far-right forces in the government has caused some concern in the EU over whether Prague will continue supporting the goals of the EU and NATO—especially whether it will maintain the war course against Russia.
Babiš and his coalition partners immediately dispelled these concerns. In foreign policy, the coalition agreement announces an even harsher “zero tolerance” line toward illegal migration—meaning that the EU’s brutal fortress-Europe policy will be further tightened in the Czech Republic by the far right. At the same time, migrants are being turned into scapegoats for the worsening social crisis.
In addition to maintaining EU membership, relations with Israel and with the United States under Donald Trump are also to be strengthened.
A referendum on the Czech Republic leaving the EU and NATO—demanded above all by the SPD—is off the table. Support for Ukraine against Russia will also not change under the new government. Immediately after his election victory, Babiš phoned Volodymyr Zelensky to underline this.
Babiš’s announcement that he would review the Czech munitions initiative, introduced by the previous government, turned out to be mainly election propaganda. The Czech Republic will continue to support Ukraine under the new government. Pavlina Janebová of the Prague think-tank Amo.cz commented: “Babiš sees himself as a businessman. He naturally wants to ensure that Czech companies can one day participate in the reconstruction of Ukraine.”
Former NATO general and current president Petr Pavel, who must appoint the new government and could theoretically refuse, expressed satisfaction. The coalition had “confirmed the pro-Western orientation of our country,” Pavel said.
This makes clear once again that the ruling class in Europe is prepared to bring openly fascist forces into power—as long as they support the EU’s aggressive war policy. This development is evident across Europe: in several countries far-right parties are already in government, in others they stand at the threshold of power.
This development is most advanced in the United States, where Trump is establishing an authoritarian presidential dictatorship. Just as there is no resistance from the Democrats and the trade unions there, in Europe too the bourgeois and “left” parties have nothing to counter this development.
The vast sums for armament and war—financed through massive social cuts—are incompatible with democracy. That is why far-right and fascist forces are being brought into governments: to suppress the opposition of the working class.