Britské listy Interview 667. Křetínský, Tykač and the others. How oligarchs control the Czech Republic and soon will control the West as well

Britské listy.cz 07.06.2024 12:45 This is an interview about the growing activities of Czech oligarchs Daniel Křetínský and others outside the Czech Republic, in particular in the West, and their attempts to present themselves as benign supporters of Western democracy. The interview is conducted in Czech, an English translation is here below.  The upper house of the Czech Parliament, the Senat, has held a conference, organised by the independent senator Marek Hilšer, on the influence of oligarchs on Czech society. It was also attended by Radek Kubala, an analyst of the Reset organisation, with whom Albín Sybera discusses this topic. A full English translation is below. It will soon be three years since the populist billionaire Andrej Babiš was narrowly ousted from the government in Czechia. However, the country has largely remained just as oligarchical as it was at the height of Babiš's days as Czech premier when the country was engulfed in a populist wave overseen also by nationalist then President Miloš Zeman. The Czech oligarchy's prevalent grip on power is sustained in part because not just food and agricultural sectors, the main domains of Babiš's conglomerate Agrofert, but perhaps even more importantly key segments of the Czech economy, including telecommunications and energy have long been dominated by oligopolies such as PPF and EPH, which Czechs feel in the high energy and data prices they have to pay for essential services. At the same time, politicians and public institutions are too weak to implement meaningful legislative changes which part of the Czech electorate hoped for in 2021. Moreover, Czech oligarchs have come to dominate most of the local media market and boosted by the energy crisis are making an extraordinary expansion westwards. As for Babiš, his personal power vehicle, the populist ANO party is currently projected to win back the government office. The next Czech national elections are scheduled for the autumn of next year.    In this Britské listy interview, BL and Visegrad Insight editor and bne Intellinews reporter Albin Sybera talks to Radek Kubala, an analyst of the Re-Set platform about the conference on the oligarchisation of the Czech Republic, which took place at the Czech Senate under the auspices of independent Senator Marek Hilšer in May and where Radek Kubala was one of the keynote speakers.