How have the Civic Democrats handled the bitcoin scandal so far?
The scandal of the bitcoin donation to the Ministry of Justice, worth nearly one billion Czech crowns, continues to dominate the Czech political scene. On Wednesday 18th, the centre-right government of Prime Minister Petr Fiala survived a no-confidence vote, and the prime minister now likely hopes that this will settle the matter. But has the damage been done?
Danny Bate spoke to political analyst and writer Jiří Pehe, to get his opinion on the Civic Democrats’ (ODS) handling of the scandal that emerged from within their own party, and what it means for their election chances.
How would you evaluate the handling of the bitcoin scandal by the Civic Democrats?
“I think the Civic Democrats could have done more in explaining this bitcoin scandal. Also they could have done more in accepting political responsibility because, quite frankly, the scandal has two dimensions. One is political, the other is legal.
“The Civic Democratic Party has tried to portray this scandal as something that has to be explained in legal terms. So we've heard a lot about finding all possible legal failures and reconstructing the way the scandal actually developed and so on, which is, of course, okay. But that is something that the justice system and the judiciary are dealing with.
“It was, in my opinion, a good chance for the Civic Democrats to accept political responsibility, in the sense that it would not end with one minister, but maybe with others who knew about this bitcoin gift to the Czech government. That could have maybe helped the Civic Democrats – not, of course, in the sense that it would improve their political standing, but it would at least slow down the scandal.
“I think that the way they have handled it is very technocratic, and it does not address the fact that the gift itself, accepting the gift from a criminal, was in itself a colossal political failure.”
It’s fair to suppose that the bitcoin scandal is good news for the opposition parties, such as ANO and the Freedom and Direct Democracy Party. But what about the political partners of the Civic Democratic Party, namely the Christian Democrats (KDU-ČSL), TOP 09, and the Mayors and Independents (STAN)? How do you think they are feeling about all this?
“I think the political partners of the Civic Democrats have serious doubts about some of the explanations that the Civic Democrats are offering.
“Of course, for the Christian Democrats and TOP 09, it's very difficult to actually do anything radical, because they are totally dependent on the Civic Democrats. They are part of the same coalition. They know very well that, in light of their current preferences, they would not make it into the parliament on their own. So they just went along.
“As far as the Mayors are concerned, they could have made a more radical gesture. I understand that they faced a difficult dilemma, because if they left the government in protest against this scandal, they could be seen as disloyal. On the other hand, of course, now, they're in a very difficult situation. By staying in the government and limiting their criticism to just gestures, they are staying in the same ruling coalition that is now a target of the opposition, and will remain a target because of this bitcoin scandal until the end of this government's tenure.
The election in this country is only months away now. How would you say that the scandal has harmed the Civic Democrats in the eyes of everyday voters?
“I think this is the kind of scandal that is seen by the public as something that is perhaps a bit too difficult. It takes time to sink in. That's why the first surveys of public opinion were not catastrophic for the ruling coalition. It lost a few points, but not as much as one would expect.
“On the other hand, this is a living scandal. It has not been put away. There may be new findings. It is being investigated by the justice system, so we may still have some new findings, which, unfortunately for the Civic Democrats, may come just before the elections.
“At this point, it's very early to say what kind of impact it will have. Certainly it will not help the ruling coalition, which, just before the scandal, was on the rise; slowly but steadily, it was closing the gap between itself and the ANO movement. Now this rise in preferences has stopped, which is bad news for the ruling coalition.”
