Promised and Broke It: A Column on Babiš's Long Line of Unfulfilled Pledges

Czech Prime Minister and leader of the ANO movement Andrej Babiš has spent years making bold public statements that he later fails to honour — and this pattern is once again on full display in the key election promises made by his government, formed together with SPD and Motoristé.

Back in 2014, Babiš insisted he would never become a politician or a prime minister — yet he went on to lead both his party and the cabinet. That same year, he twice claimed he had no intention of running for president. In 2016, he vowed to quit politics if the fraud allegations surrounding the "Stork's Nest" farm were confirmed. In 2017, he said he would leave politics after four years at the head of government. In 2020, he declared he definitely would not continue his political career if he lost the election. None of these promises was kept — and voters kept giving him their support anyway.

One of ANO's central pledges ahead of the 2025 election was capping the retirement age at 65 — a commitment that even made it into the joint policy declaration of the ANO, SPD and Motoristé government. ANO's billboards proudly proclaimed: "Vote for retirement at 65."

Yet by March 2026, that promise had quietly vanished from the government's legislative agenda. Labour Minister Aleš Juchelka pushed the introduction of the cap into a "second wave" of reforms — scheduled for 2028. Then in June 2026, Babiš himself said the issue of physically demanding professions needed to be resolved first, before any retirement-age cap could be considered.

A similar fate has befallen the promised 75% transport discounts for students and pensioners, another pledge trumpeted on ANO's billboards and written into the government's policy declaration. The rollout date has been pushed back repeatedly: first from autumn 2026 to December of that year, then to 1 January 2027, and ultimately to an unspecified future date. In June, Babiš said: "We will definitely introduce them... possibly as early as next year, but if not, then the year after."

In February 2026, the prime minister claimed: "We gave people 12 billion crowns to make energy cheaper." According to the original report, however, this statement simply doesn't hold up.

Special mention should go to ANO's campaign slogan ahead of last October's election: "We will give you back what the Fiala government took away!" The author of the column leaves it to readers — especially pensioners — to judge how well that promise has held up.

Based on personal observation, the author notes that under the previous Fiala government, pension indexation notices arrived like clockwork, whereas under Babiš, the postal "pigeons" carrying such notifications appear to have gone on strike.

Still, the author concedes that Babiš's government deserves credit for one thing: bringing back to Czechia phenomena not seen since the era of "normalisation" — bureaucratic arrogance and a string of moves that weaken the country's standing within NATO while playing straight into Russia's hands. Yet, the column concludes, Babiš's supporters seem unwilling to notice either the lies or the creeping oligarchisation of the state — and keep voting for him, election after election.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz