The EU was the big winner in the Czech election

Eurosceptics in central Europe suffered a blow this weekend, as pro-EU coalitions won a slender majority in the Czech parliament. With the nation’s president hospitalised a day after the vote, it is unclear when exactly the new government will assume power. But when they do, Brussels will breathe a deep sigh of relief.

SPOLU, a coalition of three parties united by their antipathy towards Czech prime minister Andrej Babiš, won a narrow victory. Together with another coalition comprising the Czech Pirate party – and an alliance of mayors and independents (Pirates+STAN) – groups with a pro-EU bent can now command a slender majority in the Czech parliament. They have already signed a joint statement of intent to form a new government.

Babiš’s ANO party are not explicitly anti-EU, but the prime minister has adopted increasingly eurosceptic rhetoric recently. His big hope of forming a new government appeared to be as part of a partnership with the anti-immigrant, anti-EU Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) party, which made a ‘Czexit’ referendum a condition of entering government before the election.