Andrej Babiš and the European Union: what to expect in 2018?

Our Zuzana Stuchlíková, in her latest Brussels Monitor, writes about the possible scenarios that could result from the upcoming presidential elections. Andrej Babiš and his ANO movement emerged as clear victors of the Czech Parliamentary elections in October 2017. Now it's January 2018 and the results of upcoming presidential elections will have a major influence on the future direction of the country. What can we expect if Miloš Zeman, the current president, will successfully defend his mandate? And what would be the relationship of Andrej Babiš if Jiří Drahoš becomes the new president?

Babiš ran the election campaign on an anti-European note, much like a vast majority of the other Czech parties. His criticism focused mostly on the need for the EU to do less, yet more efficiently, and prominently featured the evergreen of Czech EU policy, the rejection of the obligatory relocation mechanisms. In spite of his lack of optimism during the campaign, Babiš said in his victory speech that his party is essentially pro-European , and his first European Council shows that he will not turn the fundamentals of Czech EU policy on their head.

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