Fico and Babiš — both former members of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia — have always had friendly relations. Babiš supported both Fico and his political ally, Slovak President Peter Pellegrini, ahead of their election to office in 2023 and 2024, respectively.
With Babiš on track to win the country’s fall ballot, Czechia could soon be joining Slovakia on its eastward trajectory, Fiala fears — adding another country to the nascent pro-Kremlin bloc in Central Europe that already comprises Slovakia, Hungary and potentially Austria.
That four-member bloc is likely to have more influence at the EU level than if the countries acted alone, and echoes the Visegrad Group alliance, which Babiš has said he wants to revive.
Launched in 1991 among then-Czechoslovakia, Poland and Hungary to further regional cooperation and later to strengthen its members’ voices within the EU, Visegrad has largely been forgotten amid the current deep political divides among its members.
“The Visegrad Group worked best when the prime ministers got along personally,” Kaniok said. “This was the case when Babiš was leading the Czech government, when Robert Fico was in Slovakia, when [current PM] Viktor Orbán was in Hungary, and when [former PM Mateusz] Morawiecki was in Poland.”
If Babiš returns to power, Kaniok added, these countries, Poland excepted, could pick up again where they left off — with ominous implications for European unity.
POLITICO reached out to the Czech and Slovak government offices but did not immediately receive a comment.