Crony capitalism has been a growing problem in the Czech Republic since the 1990s. The privatization process of the 1990s was done by the political elite in cooperation with selected economic actors, creating a system of political protection that allowed them to become very wealthy. This system was cemented in place when the Social Democratic Party signed the “opposition treaty” with the Civic Democratic Party in 1998.
In the new century, the legal framework was very loose and did not make it difficult for crony capitalists to operate. This paradoxically led to the rise of Andrej Babiš, who was one of the crony capitalists of the 1990s and who managed to usurp political power.
The Pirate Party is pushing hard for a law that would rule out companies owned or co-owned by government ministers from taking part in public tenders, but it has been blocked by Mr. Babiš and Mr. Okamura. There is now more innovative legislation regulating conflict of interest and some norms that were dictated to the Czech Republic by the European Union, but it will take some time to make significant improvements. The first step is to change the rules of procedure in the lower chamber so that obstructions are significantly reduced.