Babiš is back: Billionaire’s return steers Czechia away from Ukraine and toward Hungary and Slovakia

PRAGUE (AP) — Four years ago, it seemed that the days in politics of billionaire Andrej Babiš were numbered.

The ANO movement Babiš created (an abbreviation of Action of Dissatisfied Citizens that means “Yes” in Czech) to counter mainstream political parties was defeated in October 2021 by a coalition of pro-Western groups. The populist leader was expected to make good on his promise to quit, rather than end up in opposition.

Instead, he immediately launched an aggressive campaign blaming the ruling coalition for every problem, from the energy crisis to soaring inflation. He promised to He promised to revoke a much-resented increase in the state pension age and to end help for Ukraine, while ridiculing Prime Minister Petr Fiala for being a better prime minister of Ukraine than of Czechia