Transparency International (TI) has slammed the Czech government led by the neoliberal ODS of Prime Minister Petr Fiala for having given up its anti-corruption election pledges and failing to implement any meaningful measures to tackle graft during its three years in power.

“The Civic Democrats [ODS] do not have the curbing of corruption in their DNA,” commented the anti-corruption NGO’s executive director David Kotora, adding that the party is obstructing “all the legislative measures” to tackle corruption.

TI also warned that the current bill aimed at regulating lobbying is designed to “only formally fulfil the EU requirement” in order not to lose EU funds from the national recovery plan, and that the bill to restructure the country’s antitrust office ÚOHS is also being eviscerated.

It recalled that ODS legislators admitted that part of the lobbying bill was crafted by a manager of the telecommunication company CETIN of the powerful private financial PPF Group.

“The promised ‘reform’ in active solving of corruption has not arrived with the current government and it won’t come. Premier Fiala and his ruling coalition are failing in this regard,” Kotora said.

The ODS-led SPOLU list of three parties narrowly ousted the populist ANO party of billionaire Andrej Babiš in 2021, standing on an anti-corruption platform, before forming the current centre-right coalition with the centrist Mayors and Independents (STAN) and the liberal Pirate Party.

The five parties fought a fierce campaign against Babiš, accusing himof multiple conflicts of interest and attempts at state capture. The electorate was also electrified by the 2019 mass demonstrations against the ANO-led government and its ally, the populist ex-President Miloš Zeman. 

“Petr Fiala is positioning himself into a model role of a politician with high political culture. However, the reality is such that besides other issues he is covering up serious transgressions of the [ODS] Minister of Justice Pavel Blažek,” Kotora said.

Kotora added that Fiala is letting his own legislators  “implement bills that go against the public interest and play into private power interests. The question is, who really runs ODS and the government itself.”

Blažek is an important ally of Fiala inside ODS, which has a strong Eurosceptic wing, and his appointment to the cabinet has been criticised by anti-corruption watchdogs since 2021. TI and the Pirate Party have called on Blažek to step down following reports of his interventions in the state prosecution's anti-graft probes involving party members from the ODS Brno branch, in which he remains influential.          

The Pirate Party left the government this autumn, after which Blažek took over as the chair of the government anti-corruption coordinating body, for which he immediately scrapped its minimal mandatory meetings.

Fiala’s government has one of the lowest cabinet approval ratings on record, while ANO is surging in the polls.

Former TI director David Ondračka has openly called for Fiala’s replacement and warned that his domestic policies are paving the way for ANO's return to power.

Blažek and the Ministry of Justice consistently reject criticisms from TI and other anti-corruption watchdogs.