Babiš presents media funding proposal, unemployment…

Babiš presents media funding proposal, unemployment benefits also under discussion

10.11.2026 07:02 HotInfo

The coalition council discussed the funding of Czech Television and Czech Radio as well as changes to unemployment benefits. According to government representatives, Prime Minister Andrej Babiš brought a new proposal to the meeting concerning the future fate of licence fees. Their abolition remains one of the main topics of the coalition debate.

Part of the discussion also concerned the possibility of changing the way public-service media would obtain funds. The chairman of the SPD and of the Chamber of Deputies, Tomio Okamura, proposed that people could potentially contribute to public-service media voluntarily. According to information from the meeting, Šťastný also described Babiš's funding model as good. However, the coalition still has to resolve the specific form of the proposal as well as the amount that would go to the media. lidovky.cz ↗

The council also discussed a compromise put forward by Minister of Labour and Social Affairs Aleš Juchelka of the ANO movement regarding changes to unemployment benefits. Juchelka is trying to soften the planned reduction in benefits, which has become another contentious point among the coalition partners.

Okamura considers Juchelka's compromise insufficient. According to information from the meeting, the labour minister is sticking to his version. The coalition council will thus have to find agreement both on the funding of public-service media and on the parameters of unemployment benefits. Further progress will depend on agreement among the individual parties of the government.