Final Word from Wednesday, July 29, 2026

PM Andrej Babiš needs to relax the budget rules so that he can keep all of his popular promises to his voters, and Pres. Petr Pavel needs to keep up the pressure on the Babiš government to remain popular with his own voters, so he sent the bill back to the lower chamber. It's easier to veto something when you know your veto has no chance of sticking. If Pavel had stronger veto powers, he would have had to think twice before using them, because military spending could be among the first items targeted by Babiš if he doesn't get an easing of the budget rules. In this respect, it was a pop veto from Pavel that merely served a political purpose. He didn't really want to kill the bill. It's similar with the open letter yesterday of 20 leading Czech economists. They, too, "vetoed" the law, but several of the 20 work for financial institutions that would profit from the increased government borrowing. And although Martin Ťopek of HN understood their letter to mean that they want MPs to revise the bill before overriding the veto, Art. 50 of the Constitution specifically forbids this. So the letter, like Pavel's veto, is good fodder for the media but little else. [ Parliament deficit ]