Czech President Petr Pavel on Monday appointed Andrej Babis, the billionaire head of the populist ANO party , to begin negotiations on forming a new government after his party’s victory in this month’s parliamentary election .

The move marks the latest step in Babis’s bid to return to power as the country’s next prime minister.

Since the October 3-4 election, ANO has been in talks with the right-wing, eurosceptic Motorists and the far-right, anti-European Union and anti-NATO SPD parties, which would hold a combined 108 out of the 200 seats in parliament’s lower house.

The parties are finalising a joint government agenda that is likely to lead to higher fiscal spending, less support for Ukraine’s defence against Russia and stronger opposition to EU migration and climate policies than

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