Turek for Publico: We Will Not Go with Spolu, but the Main Enemy Is the Rakušan

Interview: According to the Honorary President of Motorists for Themselves and Member of the European Parliament Filip Turek, being part of the next government is a suicidal mission. Nevertheless, the party is ready — if it gets into the Chamber of Deputies — to go into government with the movement ANO.

Why this matters: According to polls, Motorists are moving between five and six percent, which would guarantee them entry to the Chamber of Deputies. But they could also be the key for ANO (a political party) to form a government.

With whom?

Public space is increasingly discussing with whom the Motorists would be willing to form a government if they get into the Chamber of Deputies. So, with whom?

“With anyone, if they abandon their stupid ideals of leaving NATO, if they promise to defend the removal of the Green Deal and the Migration Pact, if they will tolerate us. But I cannot imagine them being communist, Pirate, or STAN ministers — unless the Pirates decide they have been wrong the whole time. However, that is a hypothetical question. I believe ANO will win the elections.”

According to current polls, ANO will need a coalition partner, and it will have trouble with any of the parties in the Spolu coalition. There are theories that ANO might go with STAN, which to me is a nightmare. Minister Rakušan is, to me, the embodiment of the Migration Pact and Chat Control (monitoring child pornography in chat applications and social networks — editor’s note), so he is ideologically my main enemy, regardless of the “Dosimeter” [a metaphor or term used in Czech political discourse] and what I think of him personally.

Then there is SPD. Voters are naive and believe that by voting for SPD, they are voting for a coalition partner for ANO. It is an anti-system party that wants to leave NATO and the EU. But Andrej Babiš is economically and politically strongly anchored in the EU. And within “Patriots for Europe,” he is the main partner of the American Republicans. So it would be hard for him to explain to American partners that our new government consists of communists, or someone who wants to leave NATO.

On Stačilo!

“When it comes to the communists, there is still the possibility of a coalition principle with Stačilo! If you do not want to live in a country where ANO governs to the left with the communists — we already had Maláčová in government — then you must vote for Motorists. ”

Is Stačilo! the same to you as the communists?

“Indeed, I believe that Mrs. Maláčová, by her ideals, is even more dangerous than Mrs. Konečná. With the latter I find some shared topics in the European Parliament on foreign policy. But at the national level, it is still the left, and we are the right.”

Hypothetically, Stačilo! could tolerate a government if there were no other option and we had to have a prime minister like Rakušan or Hřib.

On Spolu and trust

Would it be acceptable for you to support a Spolu coalition?

“Certainly not. And it’s not so much because of the program or what they say, but because of how they behave in reality. Prime Minister Fiala wrote (a book) The European Union, where he was very critical, conservative, and right-wing. But then when you see how they vote and everything they did, I no longer believe anyone of them. If you look at the inflation they committed in the past four years — almost 35 percent — for that crime Spolu does not deserve any trust at all. So I am running one floor down — from the European Parliament to the national parliament — where I will have a lower salary and do legislation for 10.5 million people instead of 450 million. That is not rational…”

On threats and what is to come

You said that you made the decision when you saw the Motorists’ polling numbers.

“Yes, when they were 2.8 percent. I claim that Motorists are the swing factor in how the next government will look. And it is also the reason why I have a target on my forehead; why the media attack me — first and foremost us and Stačilo!”

All the big parties see that if these two parties (Motorists and Stačilo!) get into the Chamber of Deputies, they can very actively shape how the next government will, or will not, look. The target on our forehead is in some way so that Andrej Babiš will not govern.

On foreign policy, NATO, and the EU

I was struck by the statement that you want to keep Andrej Babiš in check. Do you think that is possible?

“Very difficult. Being part of the next government is a suicidal mission, but we have no other option. The Migration Pact, Chat Control, and ETS 2 (emissions permits for households) — these are things that will put people in really bad financial situations, where the system impoverishes the poorest. And when a note comes from the European Commission that we must accept, say, 10,000 Afghans and Syrians — who do not want to come here and we do not want them — or for not accepting them we pay a fine of 20,000 euros each, that will lead people to entirely stop agreeing with what the EU dictates.

So either Ursula von der Leyen wakes up — which will not happen — or the individual states in Central and Eastern Europe wake up. They must begin fighting these green policies. We must replace the Czech European Commissioner and change the system. Or there will have to emerge a two-speed European Union, or possibly its structure will change, so that the European Commission is not the governing element in the Union, but is a council composed of ministers and prime ministers who are directly elected. And we want Andrej Babiš to have to go into dispute with the European Union over those things that I have mentioned.”

Potential ministerial positions and party concerns

You are close to economic diplomacy. Does that mean if you could choose, you’d like to be Foreign Minister?

“That field is the one I studied and work in. We should return diplomacy to where it belongs, because our foreign policy has become activist. That is something I reproach this government and Mr. Lipavský, who was first a Pirate, now is with ODS. Which to me is symbolic. This is how I perceive ODS — that it has become a new TOP 09 with a Pirate flavour.”

Environmental policy, ministries, and expertise

“If we look realistically, given the numbers, it looks like Petr Macinka would be an excellent Minister of the Environment. This portfolio is a ‘frog on the spring’ [i.e. a bottleneck]. It issues the EIA (environmental impact assessment) — permits for whether motorways and infrastructure are built. We have longer construction permitting than developing countries. I think the Ministry of Environment should move away from activism and start protecting nature, not fighting CO₂. And Petr Macinka would be someone who could do the ‘cleansings’ there, because that organization is riddled with activists and NGOs.”

On Ukraine, Russia, and military aid

The war in Ukraine is still going. You touched on not trading with Russia while the war continues.

“Our government lies that we do not trade with it. But those trades should not be expanded and we should not enter into new contracts. We want to do business with anyone and evaluate whether that commodity is at a concrete price, not whether it is ‘good’ or ‘evil’.”

On being labelled “pro-Russian”

You mentioned that you have the label ‘pro-Russian’. Why do you think that is?

“A non-named vice-chairman of ODS admitted to me that in the campaign they have calculated it marketing-wise. That it is the easiest label to stick. Also, that is how Spolu and ODS want to fight against Motorists, who are the “revival of ODS.” We have a better program, more right-leaning views, and probably even the founder of ODS would rather vote for Motorists than ODS. So they have nothing; they’ve messed up everything they could. They do not act right-wing.

Founding leader of ODS Václav Klaus, in an interview for Publico, said he expected more from the Motorists. I am not a member of the Motorists party and I believe that Mr. President is always critical of everyone. And that is how it should be.”

Concluding remark:

“I think we are not pro-Russian. They only give us that label if they're idiots or those who have calculated marketing-wise that it’s their only chance. The hysteria in society and the effort to label someone just to let off steam, to smear someone is high—and people use that. They divide society just so that they don’t end up in the dustbin of history, because they deserve it. And those who messed up the digitalization of construction permitting and should be going through the sewers? The most incompetent government in history fired a Pirate for incompetence over digitalization. That’s quite the record. Yet they have good polling and will tell people they will build 200,000 apartments. And there is really an idiot who believes them. For me, it’s fascinating.”

Source: Publico