What Happened: Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis accused the European Union's anti-fraud office, OLAF, of trying to "destabilize" the country on June 5 as an estimated 120,000 people crammed into a Prague square to demand his resignation, EUobserver reported.
Why It Matters: Babis' rebuke demonstrates the growing divide between the European Union and central and eastern members of the bloc, whom Brussels has accused of failing to tackle corruption, among other issues.
Background: The members of the Visegrad Group, which features the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland, have long criticized the European Union for what they view as interference in their domestic affairs. The demonstration in Prague, meanwhile, was the largest since the fall of communism in 1989.
Read More:
- Czech Republic: Parliament Votes Down the New Government (Jan. 17, 2018)
- In the EU, East and West Are Falling Out of Tune (Jan. 12, 2018)
- Czech Republic: Parliamentary Elections Put Populist Party in the Driver's Seat (Oct. 23, 2017)
