UPDATE 1-Czech election winner Babis will move his business group to trust

Czech election winner and populist ANO party chief Andrej Babis said on Thursday he would shift his Agrofert business group to an independently governed trust structure so that he can be appointed prime minister. President Petr Pavel had said he would be prepared to appoint Babis within a week once Babis, 71, declared how he intended to resolve the conflict of interest he would face as head of government and owner of a business empire.

Czech election winner and populist ANO party chief Andrej Babis said on Thursday he would shift his Agrofert business group to an independently governed trust structure so that he can be appointed prime minister.

President Petr Pavel had said he would be prepared to appoint Babis within a week once Babis, 71, declared how he intended to resolve the conflict of interest he would face as head of government and owner of a business empire. The ANO, part of the far-right Patriots for Europe in the European Parliament, came first in an October parliamentary election. It is forming a government with the far-right, anti-EU and pro-Russian SPD party and the Motorists party, which campaigned against EU policies to reduce carbon emissions.

"I decided to irreversibly give up the Agrofert company, with which I will have nothing in common and never own it again," Babis said in a video message on Facebook, adding this fulfilled the president's request. Babis is one of the richest Czechs, worth $4.3 billion according to Forbes magazine, thanks to his ownership of Agrofert, a group of around 230 companies producing fertilisers, urea, plastics and biofuels across central Europe, but also growing grains, breeding cattle, making salami and baking bread.

It employs close to 30,000 people and is a large recipient of European Union funding for farmers, as well as subsidies for innovations and investment-related tax relief from governments.

Czech courts as well as EU bodies determined Babis was in conflict of interest when he was previously prime minister in 2017-2021, and Agrofert was parked in trust funds. Babis said on Thursday that his new arrangement was designed to satisfy Czech and European regulations.

He said the trust would be governed by an independently appointed administrator and protector, and he would not be its beneficiary. It will pass to his children upon his death, he said, adding that the solution went beyond legal requirements. Babis has declared his government will raise pensions and salaries, contest an EU pact meant to regulate immigration across the 27-nation bloc and oppose implementing an EU levy on use of fossil fuels for household heating.

He has also vowed to limit military aid for Ukraine but rejected calls by the SPD partners to hold referendums on leaving the EU or NATO.

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