Prime Minister Adrej Babiš of the ANO movement is reshuffling his 16-member government. SPD three ministries and Motorists four

PRAGUE - A possible government composed of the ANO movement, the SPD and the Motorists should have a total of 16 members, including the Prime Minister, one fewer than the current cabinet of Petr Fiala (ODS). The agreement on the division of ministries was announced by representatives of the parties in a press release on Friday. According to it, nine seats would go to the ANO movement, three to the Svoboda a přímá demokracie (SPD) movement and four to the Motorists. The SPD would also occupy the post of speaker of the Chamber of Deputies.

The leaders of the three groups - ANO chair Andrej Babiš, SPD chair Tomio Okamura, and Motorists chief Petr Macinka - negotiated the form of the cabinet for roughly five hours. "We agreed on the basic principles of cooperation and the division of responsibilities in the government," Babiš said in a video posted on the X network. He added that a possible coalition would focus primarily on lowering the cost of living, supporting the domestic economy and "returning common sense to politics".

According to published information, ANO is expected to occupy the ministries of finance, interior, transport, health and defence, among others. The SPD would gain the ministries of Labour and Social Affairs, the Environment and the Ministry of Regional Development. Motorists would lead the ministries of transport, industry and trade, culture and education, with further negotiations to decide the specific division of portfolios.

The division of ministries between ANO, SPD and the Motorists and possible candidates for cabinet members:

Okamura said the SPD's participation in the Government should ensure "the promotion of long-term programmatic goals", including direct democracy, control of migration and support for Czech families. Petr Macinka stressed that the Motorists movement wants to bring "the voice of people who live real lives outside Prague every day" into politics.

The Triple Coalition has managed to win a parliamentary majority, which means a significant change on the Czech political scene. The current five-party government of Petr Fiala (ODS) is now facing a long-term decline in voter confidence. Babiš said that negotiations on programme priorities would continue in the coming days. "We want to be ready to offer the citizens a stable government that will not argue, but work," he said.

gnews.cz - GH