Babiš clashes with industrialists over speech at Brno engineering fair

Prime Minister Andrej Babiš clashed with Czech industrialists on Tuesday at the opening of the International Engineering Fair in Brno. Angry, he accused the organizers from the Confederation of Industry and Transport of deliberately cutting short his speech, and later the discussion among ministers as well.

According to the program, the prime minister was to speak at the opening of the union's congress at 1:30 p.m. Ten minutes were set aside for the speech, followed by awards for industry figures of the year. But Babiš's address resembled an election rally more than an attempt to speak to a hall full of industrialists. He praised himself and criticized others, including the European Union.

“When we finished in 2021 – if it hadn't been for covid, we certainly wouldn't have finished, because we had excellent results – we handed over the country in sixth place as the least indebted,” the prime minister said, jumping from topic to topic. “We were always in minority governments, someone was always blackmailing us. First the Communists, then the Social Democrats, then the president. Now we finally have a coalition that is delivering on its program.”

The host tried to stop him. After fourteen minutes, the event's host, Michaela Hergetová, ran out of patience. “Sorry to interrupt, but I would like to ask you to sum up very briefly,” she cut Babiš off firmly. He was not used to that and replied irritably: “I would like to finish my speech, with your permission, since you invited me.”

“I would like that too, but unfortunately we are limited by time, we have a program,” the host replied. “I still have two pages. I think it's quite important for industrialists to know what is going on,” the prime minister said. Hergetová reminded him that questions to the ministers were next on the program. “I am speaking for them too, for the ministers,” Babiš declared, and the hall at the Brno exhibition center burst into laughter. “They are glad to listen to me, at least they'll learn something,” he insisted and, ignoring the host's request, went on listing everything he had managed to achieve. “In the past I negotiated a thousand billion plus another thousand billion for the modernization fund,” he threw out, for example.

Head of the union: in the end, everyone was satisfied. When Babiš finished after almost twenty minutes, he voiced his displeasure: “I can't say more, and I thought we had freedom and democracy, as the opposition keeps saying.” As a result, the subsequent discussion with the government's economic ministers on how to preserve Czechia's competitiveness had to be shortened. The prime minister complained to the organizers about that as well.

“The Confederation of Industry is a self-confident organization of Czech business. I explained the dramaturgy of the program to the prime minister repeatedly. He was angry that we also limited the discussion of his ministers. I think he saw that a pragmatic and objective discussion with us is possible. And by cooperating, he will gain more than without us. So a lot depends on him. My personal opinion is that in the end everyone was satisfied,” says Jan Rafaj, president of the Confederation of Industry and Transport.

At the fair, the prime minister spoke most about energy prices, which in his words are being pushed up by senseless EU policy. In his speech he therefore declared that Czechia, or all of Europe, must be self-sufficient in oil and natural gas production.

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Around Prague, based on reporting by seznamzpravy.cz