(Bloomberg) -- Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka said he “can imagine” future ruling cooperation with the Communist Party if it drops its opposition to the country's pro-European policies and membership in NATO, he told the Hospodarske Noviny newspaper in an interview.
Opening up to cooperation with the Communists, which is already in coalition with the Social Democrats in some regional governments, doesn't necessarily mean betraying the party's ideals, Sobotka told the newspaper's Wednesday edition. His comments follow that of his coalition partner and political rival, billionaire Finance Minister Andrej Babis, who said last month his ANO party may negotiate with the Communists after next year's general elections.
“I noticed that Andrej Babis is also thinking about cooperating with the Communists, so this is clearly becoming a wider theme on the political scene,” Sobotka said. “For them it would mean abandoning their program to a great extent.”
Czechs joined the European Union in 2004 and became members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1999, 10 years after the nation shed communism. The Communist Party has traditionally been represented in parliament since then but has never been a part of any ruling formation. At the present time, Sobotka's party has a valid resolution that prevents creating a government with the Communists.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ladka Bauerova in Prague at lbauerova@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Lars Paulsson at lpaulsson@bloomberg.net, Andrea Dudik, Peter Laca
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