At the beginning of October 2025, Czechia will elect a new parliament. The election campaign is focusing primarily on domestic issues, but a new government would likely bring about changes in European policy, as well. A few weeks before the election, the opposition party ANO (Action of Dissatisfied Citizens) is clearly leading the polls.
Under party leader Andrej Babiš, ANO co-founded the far-right and Eurosceptic Patriots for Europe group in the European Parliament in 2024, together with Viktor Orbán's Fidesz and the Austrian FPÖ. ANO does not question Czechia's membership in the EU but rejects the Green Deal and the Pact on Migration and Asylum. While the governing coalition under the electoral alliance SPOLU, which has been in office since 2021, is also skeptical towards these EU initiatives, ANO differs in the sharpness of its criticism of European integration and, in particular, its rejection of further support for Ukraine.
During his previous term as prime minister, however, Babiš was known in Brussels for his pragmatic rather than disruptive political style. The new government's approach will therefore depend largely on whether ANO can form a government and, if so, with whom. If the party has to make concessions to radical coalition partners on the right and left fringes of parliament, even a referendum on Czechia's EU and NATO membership cannot be ruled out.
On 9 September 2025, experts discussed these and other implications for Czechia's European policy after the elections at an event of co-organised by IEP and the Vise|Balt network of the Federal Agency for Civic Education. By convening a diverse group of experts from think tanks, NGOs, public administration, and academic institutions, the network foster collaborative dialogues that can lead to innovative initiatives and research partnerships.
Viktor Daněk, Executive Director and Head of the Prague Office of the EUROPEUM think tank, provided an input, followed by a commentary by Dr. Johanna Hase, Research Advisor at the IEP. Dr. Anna Delius, Policy Officer at the bpb, moderated the discussion.
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