Former prime minister Andrej Babis has criticised the incumbent premier for not taking action on migration issues during the Czech EU presidency and for not rejecting Brussels' migration pact at the latest EU summit. Babis said that this will cost the Czechs a lot of money and will also put their security at risk.

One of the main topics of discussion in recent weeks has been the new EU migration agreement, which includes the so-called „mandatory solidarity principle.” In practice, this forces member states to choose between accepting a certain number of migrants under a quota or paying tens of thousands of euros per migrant into the EU’s coffers. The draft was first adopted by a majority at a meeting of interior ministers, but member states failed to reach an agreement at the summit of EU heads of state and government. Hungary and Poland insisted that

a common position must be reached on an effective migration and asylum policy, according to which the relocation and resettlement of migrants in the framework of solidarity measures should be voluntary and all forms of solidarity should be considered equally valid.

Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala backed the Brussels migration pact, prompting former Prime Minister Andrej Babis to criticise his successor. „The prime minister didn’t understand his role at all and did absolutely nothing during the Czech EU presidency,” he told the Echo24 newspaper.

„Fiala rozbil V4. Dohoda o migraci je pozvánkou pašerákům,“ říká Babiš https://t.co/L81L6s2q7T https://t.co/L81L6s2q7T

— Echo24.cz (@echo24cz) July 5, 2023

Migration is once again becoming a major problem across the continent, he opined.

„Europe is changing. Can’t you see how well the right-wing party AfD is doing in Germany? Don’t you see how crime has increased in Sweden and Germany? Or just look at what is happening in France.”

said Babis, the leader of the ANO movement. The former prime minister believes the current government has resigned itself to giving up more sovereignty.

„I have repeatedly called on Prime Minister Fiala to ask the European Commission for money to cover the costs of Ukrainian refugees as part of the presidency. He has done nothing and now he is fraudulently tying it to our position on the migration deal. This means the loss of our sovereignty.”

Mr Babis told the paper. ANO Vice-President Karel Havlicek also criticised Fiala’s position. He said: „The prime minister’s cowardice is not only costing Czechs money, but also endangers our security. It is sad to see that the Polish prime minister is fighting harder for us”. ANO politicians say the Czech attitude is damaging the whole V4 bloc.

Andrej Babis also sharply criticised PM Fiala on Twitter. He wrote that Europe is committing suicide and the prime minister is taking part in it.

Ano, pane premiére, Evropa páchá sebevraždu a vy se na tom podílíte. https://t.co/5fnIUGxIUf

— Andrej Babiš (@AndrejBabis) July 6, 2023