Austerity Is Still an Election Winner, Czech Ruling Party Bets
- ‘The only healthy deficit is zero deficit,’ official says
- Civic Democrats bet voters will accept unpopular budget policy
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The Czech Republic’s main ruling party is taking a political gamble a year before a parliamentary election by pressing ahead with austerity measures that so far have served to bolster support for the populist opposition.
The conservative Civic Democrats and their coalition partners must wean the country off a pandemic-era borrowing binge, said Jan Skopecek, a deputy speaker of parliament who oversees the party’s economic policy. The ultimate goal is is a balanced budget, he added.