What Czechia is writing about: The budget has the second-largest deficit ever — Fico continues to face criticism over his remarks about NATO

On Monday, the Czech government approved the state budget with the second-largest deficit in the country’s history (CZK 386 billion) and is restoring fuel price regulation from October. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico continues to face sharp criticism from the Slovak press and politicians for questioning the country’s commitments to NATO — Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš avoided directly commenting on his remarks. Babiš is also standing by his statements about judges in the Stork’s Nest case, although the Czech Judges’ Union has objected to them. The dispute deepened into a personal confrontation in New York — Fico accused Pavel there, without evidence, of wanting war, which Pavel denied.

Fico and NATO: the dispute escalated into a confrontation with Pavel in New York

Last week, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico questioned Slovakia’s commitments under Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty on collective defence and claimed that the West was looking for reasons to go to war with Russia. The Slovak press reacted with exceptional harshness — Denník N wrote that Fico was a “coward and liar. Traitor”, as reported by denik.cz. Deník ↗ Nový Čas added, according to iDNES.cz, that the prime minister had “questioned our commitments in NATO. He is scaring people with war.” iDNES.cz ↗ Slovak President Peter Pellegrini called for a more cautious tone and warned that Slovakia should not signal that it would stand aside if the alliance were attacked. Richard Raši, speaker of the National Council of the Slovak Republic, also criticised Fico’s rhetoric, while Michal Šimečka, chairman of Progressive Slovakia, said that if Fico questioned Article 5, Slovakia would have a problem with its allies, ČT24 reported. ČT24 ↗ Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš avoided directly commenting on Fico’s remarks, but stressed that Czechia would respect Article 5 and that the country currently faced no immediate security threat, iHNed.cz wrote. iHNed.cz ↗

President Petr Pavel also commented during his trip to the United States on Saturday’s conference of the Svatopluk association in Prague, where former president Miloš Zeman and MP Jindřich Rajchl (SPD) appeared alongside sanctioned Russian political scientist Fjodor Lukjanov — according to Pavel, “whoever puts Russia before Czechia is not a patriot”, Seznam Zprávy reported. Seznam Zprávy ↗ ODS chairman Martin Kupka responded to Rajchl’s participation by saying that he was “treating his insignificance with big-mouthed talk” and called him a “Kremlin collaborator”; he also called on Prime Minister Babiš to officially distance himself from the participation of his coalition MP, Forum24 reported. Forum 24 ↗

During Monday’s trip to the United States, the dispute became personal: in New York, Fico attacked the Czech president and accused him, without evidence, of wanting war, even though Pavel had said nothing of the kind, Deník N summarised in its morning briefing. Deník N ↗ On Pavel’s first day in New York, where he is seeking support for the Czech candidacy for the UN Security Council, the confrontation with Fico thus overshadowed the talks — only his later smiles with President Peter Pellegrini were more conciliatory, Seznam Zprávy reported. Seznam Zprávy ↗

Babiš stands by his statements about judges; the union demands evidence or an apology

At an ANO movement rally in Havířov, Prime Minister Babiš criticised the independence of the courts and called the verdict in the Stork’s Nest case a “verdict ordered in advance”, while implying the existence of a judicial “mafia” — the Czech Judges’ Union has demanded that he either substantiate his claims or withdraw them, but on Monday the prime minister stood by his words and continued to call the Stork’s Nest case a political trial, ČT24 reported. ČT24 ↗ According to Forum24, at Monday’s press conference after the government meeting Babiš said that “when the traditional parties found out that I wasn’t stealing, they made up Stork’s Nest.” Forum 24 ↗ According to Novinky.cz, the judges are taking the prime minister at his word and want to meet him in person to clarify his questioning of the judiciary. Novinky ↗ At the same time, hundreds of people demonstrated in Prague on Wednesday evening in favour of mandatory training for judges in cases of sexual and domestic violence, Novinky.cz reported. Novinky ↗ Babiš attacked the judges over suspended sentences for serious rapes — in his view, such judges are precisely what undermine trust in the judiciary, Aktuálně.cz reported. Aktuálně.cz ↗

The same issue is also related to changes to the statutes of the government’s advisory councils, which, according to the cabinet, should newly take the commitments from the government’s programme statement into account — MP Barbora Urbanová (STAN) fears that the councils will thereby lose their independence and ability to push through changes such as redefining rape or training judges, while the government’s commissioner for human rights, Taťána Malá (ANO), defends the change as making the councils more effective, Seznam Zprávy wrote. Seznam Zprávy ↗

Budget approved with the second-largest deficit in history; fuel regulation returns in October

On Monday, the government approved next year’s state budget with a deficit of CZK 386 billion, three billion less than the original August proposal; revenue is expected to reach CZK 2.199 trillion and expenditure CZK 2.585 trillion, Aktuálně.cz reported. Aktuálně.cz ↗ Despite the reduction, this is the second-largest deficit in Czech history, and former finance minister Miroslav Kalousek said that no economic argument could justify such a deficit during a period of growth — “it would be a great scenario for a political sitcom. In raw reality, however, it is a very expensive joke”, iDNES.cz wrote. iDNES.cz ↗ An economist contacted by Novinky.cz went even further, warning that “when Czechia goes bankrupt, Babiš will laugh at us from his castle.” Novinky ↗ The government also approved an average pension increase of CZK 304 and a one-off payment of CZK 2,000 for pensioners, ČT24 reported. ČT24 ↗

From 1 October, daily fuel price regulation is also returning — the finance ministry will set maximum prices with a margin of CZK 2.50 per litre, while the excise duty on diesel will fall from CZK 9.95 to CZK 8.011 per litre, or by roughly one fifth, Deník.cz reported. Deník ↗ For two years, the state is also introducing an extraordinary tax on refineries amounting to 50 percent of the increase in their gross margin compared with 2025, which Deník says should generate approximately CZK 5.5 billion a year. Deník ↗

President Pavel also criticised the budget proposal — in his view, the three-billion-crown difference from the original estimate changes nothing about the high deficit, and he wants to study it first, iHNed.cz reported. iHNed.cz ↗ In the parliamentary debate, SPD MP Tomáš Doležal called the three-billion-crown saving “a small partial success”, while Pirate MP Vendula Svobodová called it “a mockery” that achieves nothing, ČT24 reported. ČT24 ↗

Under the radar

Prime Minister Babiš appointed his longtime tax adviser Jan Čapek to the management of investment group Hartenberg Holding, whose annual revenues are around CZK 23 billion — this happened as early as April, bringing Čapek into the close circle of people to whom Babiš entrusted oversight of his assets; according to Deník N, the European Commission has repeatedly warned that the prime minister still has not sufficiently resolved the risk of his conflict of interest. Deník N ↗ Former deputy governor Unucka was finally convicted of manipulating public contracts — he received a suspended sentence and a fine of CZK 2.5 million, iROZHLAS reported. iROZHLAS ↗ Dagmar Havlová transferred the licence to her husband Václav Havel’s legacy to the Prague Municipal Library, which will now disseminate it, Aktuálně.cz wrote. Aktuálně.cz ↗ Former pro-Russian presidential candidate Călin Georgescu was detained in Romania, Novinky.cz reported. Novinky ↗ According to the electoral commission, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov won the regional election with 99.85 percent of the vote, Novinky.cz writes. Novinky ↗ KDU-ČSL chairman Jan Grolich said this year’s election would be a milestone and that, despite the party polling at three percent, it was also aiming to lead future coalitions, iDNES.cz reported. iDNES.cz ↗ Foreign Minister Petr Macinka called for greater dialogue with India in New York, saying that Czechia needs it as a partner, iROZHLAS reported. iROZHLAS ↗ Associations of towns and municipalities from Czechia and Slovakia signed a memorandum in Brno on deepening mutual cooperation, Protext reported. Protext ↗

What hotinfo is following

Whether Fico will return to Slovakia’s commitments to NATO and how the alliance’s leadership will respond to his remarks.

How the Czech Judges’ Union will react to the prime minister’s refusal to withdraw his statements about the judicial “mafia”, and whether it will ultimately meet with him.

Whether the change to the statutes of the government’s advisory councils will in practice limit their ability to push through changes such as redefining rape.

How the fuel price regulation will actually affect petrol stations from 1 October.

What will happen next with Jan Čapek’s appointment to the management of Hartenberg Holding in light of Babiš’s possible conflict of interest.