The Implications of the Political Crisis in the Czech Republic

The Polish Institute of International Affairs is an analytical institution established by an act of Parliament in 1996 to carry out research and provide expertise in international affairs. PISM disseminates information on contemporary international issues and maintains contacts with academic and political centres in Poland and abroad. The Institute runs courses for public servants, maintains a library (open to the public; 165,000 books and journals), organises conferences, and publishes books, periodicals and documents on Polish foreign policy and international matters.

The funding for PISM comes from the budget. The director is appointed by the prime minister for a term of five years, following consultation with the minister of foreign affairs. The minister supervises the Institute and appoints its advisory council, which includes a representative of the President of the Republic of Poland, academics and officials.President Miloš Zeman’s dismissal of the Czech Republic’s deputy prime minister and finance minister, Andrei Babiš, and the appointment of Ivan Pilný to the office ended a political crisis that had lasted since the beginning of May 2017. However, it revealed an intense dispute between, on one side, Zeman and Babiš, chairman of the party Action of Dissatisfied Citizens (ANO), and Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka, the head of the Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD), on the other. The circumstances of Babiš’s dismissal have politically strengthened Sobotka five months before parliamentary elections.