ODS wants to break up Spolu before the European elections – News

“The Together coalition is working and I think we should use it in the regional, senate, and also in the next parliamentary elections. In the European elections, however, I have doubts as to whether ODS coalition cooperation would strengthen, or rather weaken, the head of ODS deputies, Marek Benda, told Práv.

He is one of the main architects of the coalition cooperation between the ODS, the People’s Party and TOP 09 before the 2021 elections. The chairman of the ODS, Petr Fiala, also stated in an interview for Právo that the Spolu coalition is a project that may not work in all types of elections.

“I think the view that we should go it alone will prevail in the end, but we are still discussing it. I myself would be in favor of us going to the European elections as Together,” said Eva Decroix, vice-president of the ODS club, to Práv, who unsuccessfully ran for the ODS in the European elections four years ago. “Europe still attracts me, but I don’t want to leave the Chamber at this moment, it seems unfair to my colleagues,” said Decroix.

According to behind-the-scenes information, Jan Zahradil should no longer defend the mandate in the European elections, which would leave the European Parliament twenty years after his first election. Zahradil himself did not want to comment on these speculations. “You will find out everything in time,” he told Práv, adding that he would comment in early June. He recently announced that he will decide whether the ODS will go to the elections independently.

The number one candidate on the ODS list should be vice-chairman Alexandr Vondra instead. “We will deal with the ODS candidate in a standard and democratic way only in the second half of the year. Now there is no reason for that,” said Vondra, who is in his first term in the European Parliament, for Právo.

Decroix told Prav that Zahradil should no longer be a candidate. “Recently, the ODS has only been shunned, it does not represent the current form and politics of the party. It would be a shame if we put him at the head of the candidate again,” said the deputy.

According to her, the ODS should withdraw from the faction of the European Conservatives and Reformists and rather join the European People’s Party, whose members include the People’s Party and TOP 09. Then the argument of critics of coalition cooperation in the European elections would fall, namely that the ODS is in a different faction .

The vice-chairman of the Senate and TOP 09 Tomáš Czernin would be in favor of a joint candidate, according to him it is good to keep the Spolu brand even though each party would have to compromise on its program priorities and put people who would tolerate it on the candidate list.

“It would have to be a compromise and we would have to find candidates who would be closer to each other,” he said when asked how he could imagine Luďek Niedermayer from TOP 09 and a conservative from the ODS who disagree on a number of fundamental issues, e.g. .to introduce the euro instead of the koruna.

MEP and possible KDU-ČSL leader Tomáš Zdechovský also sees an advantage in maintaining the Spolu brand. “And of course we also want to defeat the opposition of Andrej Babiš in these elections,” Zdechovský told Právu. He added that he is preparing an analysis of how much the Spolu parties have in common in European politics. “It turns out that there is about 80 percent agreement between the programs, which is enough for us to find a common language,” added Zdechovský.

According to him, the issue of the euro divides them, but it must be resolved at the national level, and not in the European Parliament. “The topic of the Green Deal and other green policies is more controversial, but it is still possible to find a compromise solution beneficial to all parties,” said Zdechovský.

There was also speculation that TOP 09 could send the unsuccessful presidential candidate Danuša Nerudová to the European elections. However, party leader Markéta Pekarová Adamová told Práv that the party is not yet discussing the appointment of a candidate. “First, we have to decide whether TOP 09 will go to the European elections in a coalition or independently. Only then will personnel issues come up,” she said.