The Czech Constitutional Court announced today that it has approved the opposition ANO’s motion to repeal substantial parts of the “Lex Babis II” amendment, which tightened the rules for media ownership by politicians and for subsidies accepted by MPs and their companies as of this year.
Under the amendment, named after ANO leader and former PM Andrej Babis, who faced accusations of conflict of interest, politicians and other public officials could no longer be the owners of television and radio stations or newspapers.
However, the legislation was created as an unconstitutional rider, the Constitutional Court stated in its ruling. Flaws in the legislative process were the precise reasons for the court’s intervention. Its ruling therefore did not deal with the content of the law, the court said. Today’s ruling will result in the restoration of the original legislative change to the conflict of interest law, which means a return to the situation where the law did not apply to the actual beneficial owners.
Today’s ruling is good news for future oppositions in the Chamber of Deputies, said ANO deputy chair and parliamentary group leader Alena Schillerova, who spoke in court on behalf of 70 ANO MPs. “Moments of surprise, non-transparency and riders have no place in the legislative process,” Schillerova said.
Riders are proposed legislative changes attached to other unrelated legislation.
The Chamber of Deputies was discussing a bill to change the organisational structure and management of the Office Supervising the Financial Management of Political Parties and Movements. A change proposed by MP Jakub Michalek (Pirates) a few minutes before the end of the second reading in the Chamber introduced a stricter ban on media ownership and the acceptance of subsidies and investment incentives, including a control mechanism and sanctions.
The Constitutional Court upheld most of the legislative changes concerning the organisational structure of the office. However, it cancelled the changes included in the amendment proposed by Michalek.
“In the case under consideration, the change proposed by Michalek was not closely related to either the purpose or the subject matter of the original bill, and there was no broad consensus in the Chamber of Deputies in favour of its adoption. It was therefore a rider within the meaning of the established case law of the Constitutional Court,” reads the ruling of Judge-Rapporteur David Uhlir, whose ten-year term of office ends today.
Six of the 15 constitutional judges expressed a different stance on the ruling and its justification.
Judge Uhlir told reporters that there must be a “kinship” between the pending law and a proposed change.
The court’s chairman Josef Baxa pointed to the “long-standing unsatisfactory practice” of the Chamber of Deputies in using procedural rules in this way. “We found it very alarming,” Baxa said. While the court is not an “inspector general” watching over the purity of the legislative process, he said, it must take into account that trust in the law is closely linked to trust in the legislative process.
“Today’s decision should be a lesson and a guide for any future government majority and opposition minority,” Baxa said.
Michalek admitted at the hearing of the Constitutional Court in November that he had intended to surprise the opposition and bypass the “legislative hell”. The Pirates were then part of the government coalition. Michalek expected ANO to resist with all its force the adoption of the amendment, which also applied to its chairman Babis.
“Despite the difficulties that filibuster can cause in the functioning of the Chamber of Deputies, the use of riders is not a legitimate tool to deal with it. The Chamber majority has other tools to constitutionally ensure that the Chamber of Deputies’ activities are not obstructed,” the Constitutional Court explained in its ruling.
The ANO movement argued that the law was directed specifically against Babis, like the first “lex Babis”, adopted in 2017 in reaction to the ANO leader’s purchase of the Mafra publishing house while an active politician.
The change in the law at the time prompted him to transfer his companies Agrofert and SynBiol into trust funds. According to Lex Babis II, this measure would no longer be sufficient, as the legislation would also apply to the actual owners.
Last year, Agrofert sold Mafra and the Londa film, which operates the Impuls and RockZone radio stations, to the Kaprain group. Recently, Babis announced that he would dissolve the trust fund.
Commenting on today’s verdict, Michalek said that the Constitutional Court had once again allowed Babis and other oligarchs to own media outlets. He said the annulment of lex Babis II is no good news for democracy, and that he intends to push the amendment to the conflict of interest law through parliament again.
“Obstruction has won over the will of the majority,” Michalek wrote to CTK. “Most Czechs agree that politicians should not own media and take billions in subsidies for their companies. I don’t want us to end up like Hungary. That’s why I will propose that the amendment to the conflict of interest law be approved by parliament again.”
