Money for public media will come from reserves. The budget deficit will not increase, said Okamura

The Czech government plans to finance public media from the state budget starting next year, without increasing the budget deficit. The coalition aims to allocate approximately 7.8 billion CZK from budget reserves, despite a projected deficit of 386 billion CZK. The proposal includes abolishing fees for Czech Television and Czech Radio, with funding set at 5.74 billion CZK for ČT and 2.065 billion CZK for ČRo. Former Prime Minister Petr Fiala criticized the coalition's voting procedures, claiming they limited opposition participation. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Andrej Babiš engaged with citizens opposing the fee abolition, emphasizing that fees do not guarantee media independence.