One year until the elections and the further functioning of Babiš’s cabinet is endangered. Communists who tolerate the government are running out of patience. There is a call from the Castle for a caretaker government. And to make matters worse in addition to fighting the epidemic, government leaders are in conflict over taxes.
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Prime Minister Babiš proposes that employees pay 15 percent, while Deputy Prime Minister Hamáček 19. On Thursday, the Chamber of Deputies will make a final decision.
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“It is a political dispute that can tell voters a lot about the true nature and programmatic goals of the YES movement. Given who it is aimed at, it shows where the premiere of the heart goes when it wants to help the richest, “says Jan Hamáček in an interview.
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So how much longer will you last in Babiš’s government?
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I have not noticed any major turbulence that would go beyond the normal framework. As the end of the election period approaches, the level of speculation will always increase as to whether the government will endure, it will not endure what will happen after the elections… There is no fundamental problem in our government.
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No? After all, the main leaders – the heads of the coalition parties – are sending two competing proposals to reduce taxes to the Chamber of Deputies. You 19 percent, Prime Minister 15, the difference for the state budget is 90 billion. Isn’t that a major problem?
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No, this is an ideological dispute. This is not something the government would break into. The Prime Minister comes up with a proposal that has a devastating impact on the state budget, which means, as a result, the inability of the government or the state to provide public services, health care, and social services. The 90 billion a year collected in taxes will be missing. And at the same time, it is a project that helps the most people, who take 80 to 100 thousand. And that is something that social democracy simply cannot accept.
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So when Babiš’s proposed reduction goes through, will you leave the government?
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I can imagine several reasons for leaving the government. But the fact that we do not agree on tax rates is, of course, unpleasant, but on the other hand, it is something that Andrej Babiš will solve again in the final, because that will be a problem for the Ministry of Finance. And I expected the Treasury Department to come up with a proposal on how to compensate. For example, with the bank tax that we proposed, but it did not come. So the state will have to borrow the 90 billion. From my point of view, it is a political dispute that can give the voters a lot to say about the true nature and programmatic goals of the Social Democracy and the YES movement. Given who it is aimed at, we see that the Prime Minister is not thinking on the left. It shows where his heart is pulling him.
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Will you play it now so that Babiš’s YES is for the rich and the CSSD for others?
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So if someone suggests that they want to help the richest… And it is no coincidence that the ODS is the most excited about it. Unfortunately, Andrej Babiš realizes her long-held dream here and does something that Topolánek and Nečas did not succeed either. To And I put it aside that the ones who earn very well on it will be banks. Because those people who take 80 to 100 thousand today do not put the money into consumption, which would help the economy. They will save and save them in the bank. Therefore, we suggest to go the way of increasing the basic taxpayer discount, which helps more low-income people.
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Why is Prime Minister Babiš actually saying that he wants to introduce a 15 percent tax?
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I think someone recommended it to him. That it came out of opinion polls. By the way, this is a step which, I suspect, in December 2018, in a television debate with the chairman of the Civic Democrats, Petr Fiala, described as an ODS mega-fraud. So something must have happened there that turned the ODS mega-fraud into an unexpected move by the YES movement – and I assume it was a poll.
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So far, however, Andrej Babiš has helped fulfill left-wing dreams, such as raising pensions or reducing fares, so you must have been satisfied, right?
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The whole debate shows a lot that there is no political party for everyone anywhere in the world. I don’t know such a side. And the effort to be a political party for all then, of course, leads to absurdities that I will first help the weaker, the elderly, the unemployed and so on. And then I will help the rich. But because I don’t want to upset anyone, in the end I will destroy the state budget, because I prefer expenses and I no longer deal with income. But that’s not how it works. That is why the political parties here are divided into left and right, where the left says: We will provide a functioning social network, but it will be at the cost of higher redistribution. And the right hand says, No, let everyone take care of themselves. But the hybrid movement for all simply never works in a democratic world.
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If there is a lack of money from taxes on public services, which you Social Democrats consider crucial, such as health care or social care, will that be a reason to leave the government?
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Of course. But the budget for next year is ready and there we agreed, there the money is there. This will be an unsolvable conundrum for the 2022 budget. I don’t think the Minister of Finance is sleeping a bit. The motivation of the ODS is the pressure on public services and their subsequent privatization. After all, we saw this under President Bendl in Central Bohemia, when he sold most of the regional hospitals at very strange prices in the blink of an eye.
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Andrej Babiš also does business in healthcare… As if he also bought some starving hospitals?
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It surprises me a little that it helps them in that or that the YES movement has found a symbiosis with the ODS. So far, I have not noticed from the Prime Minister’s statement that they would like to privatize it, but this opens the way for it.
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The coalition agreement between ANO and the CSSD states that “both parties undertake that the government’s draft laws, namely on the state budget and taxes, will be submitted exclusively as coalition-agreed”. That hasn’t happened now, so the contract is broken or no longer valid?
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This is obviously not the case with the YES movement. That the Prime Minister filed a 15 percent tax as an MP is somehow inconsistent with the coalition agreement. But frankly, such a procedure has happened here several times.
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You will have a postponed party congress next April. Surveys show that you are hovering around the 5% threshold required to enter the House. Will you continue as chairman of the CSSD?
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This is something I think is time for. We are a democratic party, which means that district conferences, regional conferences await us. So this will be the subject of discussion and I will see what support I have. The question is how they will react to this in the individual regions.
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Information is flowing through political corridors that Jan Hamáček wants to quit and is heading for the post of ambassador. Some say in Canada, others in Portugal…
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Portugal is new, I haven’t heard that yet. I don’t speak Portuguese. I speak fairly decent English. But I definitely have no ambitions in diplomacy. I do not spread it and sometimes Tomio Okamura actively spreads it, but he is not my spokesman.
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Rather, I wonder if you don’t want to end up in politics after years?
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I always said I didn’t want to die in politics. But the decision will be mine, and it’s definitely not the case that I negotiated a newsagent somewhere, that’s nonsense.
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Why is there so much speculation now about President Zeman’s caretaker government?
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That’s stupid. Just read the institute. The only one who can decide on a caretaker government is Andrej Babiš. Because any debate about caretaker government presupposes its resignation. This means that if Andrej Babiš does not resign, the whole debate on the caretaker government is useless. This proves how absurd it is.
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Is it a question of whether President Zeman is pushing him to do so, or is he recommending it?
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Historically, there have been a number of prime ministers who have had very strained relations with presidents, and no president has forced the prime minister to resign. In this case, the entire decision is up to the Prime Minister, and if the Prime Minister does not decide on the resignation, as Prime Minister Babiš does not really think about it, it is the whole academic debate.
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Isn’t it the case that Andrej Babiš got angry at the CSSD, wanted to fire you from the government and continue with the label of a caretaker government?
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If Andrej Babiš got angry and terminated our coalition agreement, it does not automatically mean a caretaker government.
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He might have imagined it that way.
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I do not see the Prime Minister in my head. And I didn’t hear any mention of caretaker government from his mouth.
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He is said to be very upset at the CSSD about Minister Maláčová’s statement about the moron or about your idea of setting up a commission of inquiry to find out what mistakes the government made before the second wave of the epidemic.
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Of course, each cooperation has a more problematic period. The Prime Minister understood my proposal for a commission of inquiry in such a way that it was aimed at him and that I was trying to criminalize him here, which was not the case. I then explained this in several interviews that my goal was for the commission to simply say authoritatively whether the state was doing well or badly. Whether the mechanisms are set up well or not, whether something needs to be changed. And I’m definitely not criminalizing anyone. I just want the state to say after such a crisis, using its mechanisms, whether it has managed the crisis or not, and whether it needs any changes.
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