PRAGUE – Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala’s centre-right coalition (ECR, EPP) has survived a no-confidence vote, despite growing pressure over a bitcoin scandal that forced the resignation of the country’s justice minister.
The motion, tabled by the opposition ANO (Patriots) and SPD (ESN) parties and supported by the Pirates (Greens/EFA), fell short of the 101 votes needed to topple the government.
The trigger was a €40 million bitcoin “donation” from convicted drug trafficker Tomáš Jiřikovský, which led to the resignation of Justice Minister Pavel Blažek earlier this month. Blažek, a senior figure in Fiala’s ODS party (ECR), claimed he acted legally but stepped down to limit political damage. Courts could not prove the crypto’s criminal origins, but suspicions of money laundering prompted investigations and a political storm.
In the end, only 94 MPs backed the no-confidence motion, while 98 voted to keep the government in place. All coalition parties, Fiala’s ODS, the centrist STAN, the Christian Democrats (KDU-ČSL), and TOP 09, largely held together, with just a few absences and abstentions.
With parliamentary elections scheduled for October 2025, the opposition views the bitcoin affair as a useful opportunity to undermine the government’s standing with voters.
In contrast, Fiala insisted his cabinet had taken the matter seriously and responded promptly to contain the political fallout. Eva Decroix, appointed to replace Blažek as justice minister, has pledged to fully investigate the case and launch an independent audit.
