Andrej Babiš, the right-wing populist who on Monday formed Czechia’s next government, wants to derail EU plans on curbing emissions, according to the government’s coalition program, seen by POLITICO’s Brussels Playbook.

Babiš and his ANO movement formed a coalition with the right-wing Motorists for Themselves party and the nationalist Freedom and Direct Democracy. Babiš is expected to make his return to the European Council table at the next gathering of EU leaders in Brussels on Dec. 18-19.

Critics fear that Czechia could become a new bête noire for the EU alongside Viktor Orbán’s Hungary and Robert Fico’s Slovakia.

“I believe that if we look at his statements and his allies in Europe — like Viktor Orbán and what he has done with Hungary — he [Babiš] will start pushing the Czech Republic toward the margins,” Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský told POLITICO.

While Babiš still needs to be formally nominated as prime minister by the Czech president, he already has grand plans for his EU comeback: unraveling the bloc’s green policies.

“The Green Deal is unsustainable in its current form, which is why we will promote its fundamental revision,” the draft coalition program reads.  

The new government plans to push back against the implementation of a new market that would put a price on heating and fuel emissions (dubbed ETS2). The new emissions trading system is a cornerstone of the EU’s efforts to slash planet-warming emissions from the building and transport sectors and achieve climate neutrality by 2050.

The Czech plan also states the government “will initiate a European-level reassessment” of the original emissions trading scheme, ETS1, which covers pollution from heavy industries and the energy sector.

EU governments have already voted in favor of ETS2 and it is due to come into effect in 2027. However, the draft Czech government program includes a threat not to enact the rules: “In the case of ETS2 emission allowances for households and transport, we are prepared not to implement this system into Czech legislation and to prevent highly negative social impacts on society.”

The draft also reveals that a future Babiš government views an EU ban on the sale and production of cars with combustion engines from 2035 as “unacceptable.”

“The European Union has its limits — it does not have the right to impose decisions on member states that interfere with their internal sovereignty,” the draft reads. The ban was approved in 2023 by all member countries (despite last-minute resistance from Germany) but has proven controversial.

Babiš is not alone in wanting to challenge EU Green Deal rules. The previous Czech government also requested a delay in ETS2 implementation, and Estonia called for it to be scrapped.

Babiš may find an ally in Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who trumpeted his success in inserting a “revision clause” into the EU plans to extend a carbon-trading system at a leaders’ gathering last month. 

While the revision clause demanded by EU leaders does not explicitly call for a weaker ETS2, Tusk believes it will open the door to a delay of the measure.

Babiš intends to personally oversee EU policy — abolishing the role of minister for European affairs and placing responsibility for EU matters in a department “subordinate” to the prime minister.

The parties in the coalition will be expected to sign off on the government program. Then comes a period of wrangling as Babiš is expected to try to install Filip Turek, the controversial honorary president of the Motorists’ party, as foreign minister — a move President Petr Pavel may oppose, according to an EU diplomat. 

Czech news outlet Deník N reported last month that Turek — a former member of the European Parliament and racing driver — had made racist, sexist and homophobic comments on Facebook before entering politics. Turek denied being behind the posts in a video posted on Facebook.