EU must learn from Brexit, says ‘Czech Trump’
THE EU must recognise the forces that drove Brexit and reform accordingly, a billionaire tipped to become the next Czech prime minister says.
Andrej Babiš, leader of the “antiestablishment” ANO party, told The Daily Telegraph that the EU is chasing the wrong priorities as it looked for deeper integration.
“I’m not a Eurosceptic,” said the Czech Republic’s second richest man ahead of its elections next week.
“Europe is a great project. But European politicians should seriously ask why the UK is leaving. They are dealing with the wrong issues in pursuing further integration.”
Pragmatic but unpredictable, Mr Babiš is often compared to Donald Trump due to his wealth, populist agenda and ability to brush off financial scandals and coarse outbursts.
And like Mr Trump, his views on integration, immigration and Russia have left many in Europe nervously eyeing his lead in the polls.
His political vision has won support among an electorate disappointed their standard of living still trails their German neighbours 13 years after joining the EU, and spooked by the migrant crisis, even if only a dozen refugees have settled in the country.
Those gripes have been aggravated by Paris, Brussels and Berlin pushing forward with EU integration once the UK leaves the bloc, he warned.
“We must institute reform to deal with the problems surrounding security, immigration and the four freedoms: the free movement of goods, capital, services, and labour,” he said.
Mr Babiš insists he will not seek a “Czexit” if he becomes prime minister.
Exports to the EU account for close to 70 per cent of Czech GDP, but just as important to Mr Babiš, say critics, is that his agrochemicals giant Agrofert receives large EU subsidies.
ANO, a centrist and populist party he founded in 2011, is running an election campaign on the billionaire’s promise to run the country like his business, the republic’s largest private employer. It is also calling for the EU to close borders and set up migrant camps overseas. Along with a pledge to destroy a “corrupt system” that has gripped the nation since communism fell in 1989, those policies have helped him attract support from 30 per cent of the electorate.
His critics say he is an autocrat who will damage democracy and is in no position to campaign on anti-corruption. Police recently laid fraud charges against him over a €2 million EU subsidy to a hotel development.
Mainstream parties say they will not form a coalition under a prime minister facing criminal indictment, though it is unclear if they will stand by that commitment if he wins the election.