He was appointed just a week ago as Prime Minister of the Czech Republic and is the opposite of his replacement, billionaire Andrej Babis. Petr Fiala, the leader of the conservative Civic Democrats (ODS) party, at 57, takes the reins of a country which, like the rest of Europe, is experiencing a new wave of Covid-19 in its last weeks. At the head of a large coalition which includes in particular the Czech Pirate Party, this former historian, journalist or university rector, who was between 2012 and 2013 Minister of Education, will have to demonstrate qualities of balancing act to may his government remain united …
Petr Fiala has the profile to please. Well educated, polyglot like James Bond to whom he likes to compare himself and of whom he claims to be a fan, the new Czech Prime Minister contrasts with the personality of Andrej Babis, his predecessor: a populist billionaire who did not hesitate to change its mind to attract new voters.
The one who was Minister of Education between 2012 and 2013 has, for his part, deeply rooted ideas, according to Michel Perottino, researcher and professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences at Charles University in Prague: “Petr Fiala is not only a former political scientist or professor of political science, he is also a very knowledgeable person, especially in matters of political ideology. And he is perhaps, in Czech politics, one of the most consistent politicians with regard to his ideological profile. Petr Fiala, in terms of ideas, is above all a conservative, which was very marked especially during his presidency of the ODS, which will undoubtedly be the case for the months or years to come at the head of the government. Czech. “
” Fiala emphasizes moderation in its remarks“
If Petr Fiala is an assertive conservative, he is not for all that close to the conservative ideas developed in Eastern Europe, details Jacques Rupnik, professor at Sciences Po and specialist in Central and Eastern Europe: ” Fiala emphasizes moderation in its words, in the formulation of its theses. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t have strong convictions, he does. He is closer to the British Conservatives than Mrs Merkel. When I say that his conservatism is “of the British type”, that does not mean that he has as a prospect a hard Euroscepticism going as far as “Tchexit”, not at all! “
Petr Fiala will have to work with the parties that make up his government. Five formations with very different ideas, whether in terms of domestic policy, or on the international scene, but which have all the same managed to find the way forward, believes Michel Perottino: “The government that is being formed has already announced that it wants to make a lot of savings. The objective will undoubtedly be to return to a balanced budget, which will prove to be extremely complicated. The government will have to make very drastic cuts and save a lot of money compared to the government of Andrej Babis, which has distributed a lot. “