Foreign Policy Priorities of A. Babis. Amid the Centennial of the State

The critical attitude of opponents to the person of A. Babis has generated a lot of stereotypes around his political preferences and foreign policy orientation. The inauguration of the Czech Prime Minister on the eve of the centennial of independence and other memorable dates allowed him to designate his policy priorities in a special setting, filling speeches with historical references and parallels with the state’s past. As shown in the paper, throughout 2018, A. Babis tried to refute the image of a Eurosceptic politician who sought cooperation outside the Euro-Atlantic structures. The “octal anniversaries”, which in many respects concerned the struggle of the Czech-Slovak people for freedom, democracy, and the “return to Europe”, in the author’s opinion, provided an excellent opportunity to confirm the commitment of A. Babis’s cabinet to these values. Meanwhile, it is no use talking about A. Babis as a Eurosceptic relying on his critical attitude to some features of the functioning of the European Union. It was justified only by the desire to see this structure more convenient for his compatriots, but there were no attempts to distort or damage its image. The memory of the cataclysms that damaged Czechoslovakia in the 20th century prompted the authorities to make statements about the importance of respecting the principles underlying the interwar Czechoslovak state, since the idea of independence was primarily associated with that time. The European Union where similar postulates and principles were spelled out, was well suited for this. Attempts by the Czech Prime Minister and his cabinet to expand cooperation outside the EU and NATO were based solely on pragmatic trade and economic interests. As a result, Babis actively called on his colleagues from the foreign ministries to expand the Czech Republic’s economic presence outside the EU, intensifying contacts with other trading partners, including Russia.

Keywords

A. Babis, Czech Republic, octal anniversaries, ANO, Czech foreign policy, Czechoslovakia

Received

13.03.2020

Publication date

13.03.2020

Number of characters

41997

Cite

GOST	Vedernikov M. Foreign Policy Priorities of A. Babis. Amid the Centennial of the State // Novaia i noveishaia istoriia – 2020. – Issue 1 C. 166-180 [Electronic resource]. URL: https://nni.jes.su/S013038640008193-0-1 (circulation date: 24.04.2024). DOI: 10.31857/S013038640008193-0
MLA	Vedernikov, Mikhail "Foreign Policy Priorities of A. Babis. Amid the Centennial of the State." Novaia i noveishaia istoriia 1 (2020):166-180. DOI: 10.31857/S013038640008193-0
APA	Vedernikov M. (2020). Foreign Policy Priorities of A. Babis. Amid the Centennial of the State. Novaia i noveishaia istoriia (1), pp.166-180 DOI: 10.31857/S013038640008193-0

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