Czech opposition parties are demanding the removal of Tomio Okamura, the speaker of the Chamber of Deputies and leader of the now co-governing Freedom and Democracy (SPD).
Okamura has drawn the ire of pro-war forces by saying that supporting the ongoing conflict in Ukraine is senseless and that the country should not be admitted to the European Union.
Czech opposition politicians have started collecting signatures after they were dissatisfied with the New Year’s speech of the speaker of the lower house of parliament. Pro-war forces are demanding the dismissal of Tomio Okamura because he dared to speak out against financial support for the corrupt Ukrainian elite, writes Origo, citing a report out of Ukrainian news portal ZN.
Okamura spoke in his New Year’s video about the pointlessness of funding the war in Ukraine, as this money would be better spent on Czech citizens.
He expressed his hope that his country would jump off the “Brussels train” heading for World War III, and in relation to the war, he emphasized that the money spent on this would clearly be better spent on Czech families, pensioners, and the disabled.
The politician also emphasized that Western governments, companies, and actors in Zelensky’s corrupt government are benefiting from the war, and at the same time stated that Ukraine should not be admitted to the European Union.
The speaker posted a separate video message lambasting Ukraine for allowing marches for “Nazi criminal Stepan Bandera,” although no such marches have yet to be reported this year, and refusing to support Czech tax dollars going to support such a regime. In 2018, the Ukrainian parliament declared Jan. 1 a national day of commemoration for Stepan Bandera.
“Today, Jan. 1, traditional legally permitted marches were held throughout Ukraine in honor of today’s anniversary of the birth of the Nazi criminal Bandera. Stepan Bandera is the inspirer of mass murders and terrorist attacks in Ukraine, Belarus, and Poland. The Polish parliament recognized the mass murders of Poles in western Ukraine as genocide and officially established July 11 as the national day of remembrance of the Bandera genocide. Bandera’s followers also murdered and tortured Czechs and Slovaks not only during World War II, but also after the war, when they fought their way west through Czechoslovakia. It is unacceptable for the Czech Republic to finance Bandera’s worshipers.”
Dnes 1. ledna se konaly po celé Ukrajině tradiční legální povolené pochody na počest dnešního výročí narození nacistického zločince Bandery. Stepan Bandera je inspirátorem masových vražd a teroristických útoků na Ukrajině, v Bělorusku a Polsku. Polský parlament uznal masové… pic.twitter.com/OagcRrUKLv
— Tomio Okamura (@tomio_cz) January 1, 2026However, with the latter statement, Okamura has incurred the wrath of pro-war forces. Czech opposition parties have launched a petition to remove the Speaker of the House, arguing that the statements harm the Czech Republic’s international reputation.
SPD is a member of the Europe of Sovereign Nations Group (ESN) in the European Parliament, launched by Germany’s AfD after it was expelled from Identity and Democracy in 2024. In Czechia, SPD is part of a coalition government formed by Andrej Babis’s ANO party and Motorists for Themselves after ANO’s landslide victory in 2025.
