Smoking Ban Failure Triggers Emergency Czech Coalition Talks
- Parties bicker after smoking-ban law fails despite ruling pact
- Dispute worsens coalition tension before 2017 budget talks
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Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka called for emergency talks after a failure to pass a long-awaited law banning smoking in restaurants ignited tension in his ruling coalition.
Sobotka’s Social Democrats locked horns with ANO, the junior coalition party led by billionaire Finance Minister Andrej Babis, after lawmakers failed to support a bill to outlaw smoking in restaurants and bring the country in line with the majority of their European Union partners. The prime minister scheduled a meeting on Friday after they accused each other of breaking their coalition pact and warned that intensifying bickering could sink the government.