REPUBLIQUE TCHEQUE: GERER L'ETAT COM ME UNE ENTREPRISE

In: Politique internationale: pi, Heft 142, S. 1

Abstract

Who would have believed, just a few short months ago. that Andrej Babis would become the new Czech Minister of Finance? This talented entrepreneur, who made his fortune in chemicals and agribusiness before setting his sights on the media industry (he controls the country's leading dailies as well as several TV stations), is a newcomer on the political scene. His ANO (Action of Dissatisfied Citizens) movement, founded in 2012, scored a surprising breakthrough with 19% of the votes in the parliamentary elections last October. He ended a close second to the Social Democrats, with whom he formed a coalition. Andrej Babis lambastes the powerlessness and corruption of the Czech political class and contrasts it with the entrepreneurial management model, of which he is one of the post-Communist world's most shining examples. He is set on applying the same recipes to the country's finances that made him the second wealthiest man in the Czech Republic. Now let's see if his approach works. Adapted from the source document.