His great love is the car. Generally. He has a number of expensive models Jaguar, Rolls-Royce, Aston Martin and of course a hand-built Maybach. Politics is probably his hobby, as evidenced by the name he chose for his party: “Motorists for themselves”.

The 40-year-old Philip Turek managed to enter the European Parliament in 2024, but also its national parliament Czech Republic in the recent elections, with a percentage of 6.8% and to be elected a member of parliament. And because his ideas coincide in several points with the ethno-populist, future prime minister Andrei Babis of the ANO (Action of Dissatisfied Citizens) decided to support the next government together with the far-right SPD (Party of Freedom and Direct Democracy), but ensuring its not insignificant position minister of foreign affairs.

CV with gaps

Turek, a previously modest racing driver, graduate of unrecognized private universities and car dealer, is a fervent devotee of economic neoliberalism, like Babis, and shares with him the fight against the EU’s “Green Deal” and the abolition of the sale of internal combustion engine vehicles after 2035. He also shares other authoritarian ideas, which he has expressed in times while his contacts with justice were not so rare.

An ex-partner of his has denounced him for years of abuse, while the video that he had taken boasting at the wheel while driving at 200 kilometers per hour also drew attention. He has also been accused of making death threats against a foreign diplomat. But these were more or less known to both his voters and his future political boss. What Babis didn’t know, or perhaps underestimated, is the fact that Turek has at times spoken out in favor of him Nazism and its symbols.

Mistakes of… youth

For example, in a speed race his helmet bore the insignia of one of her fighter squadrons Wehrmacht. He justified himself by saying that he is a collector of such historical “relics”. At one point he wrote on social media that his car’s tank holds “88 liters of petrol”. 8 is the password of the “initiates” for the eighth letter of the alphabet (H) and 88 means HH ie “Heil Hitler”.

Investigative journalists have captured a series of racist, misogynistic and homophobic comments he made on social media, which he attempted to delete after entering politics. There are also statements of admiration for Hitler and Mussolini, disparaging remarks about the “black” Obama and a number of other feats, which he was forced to admit and attribute to his strong penchant for “black humor” and his young age. There’s also a photo of him with one hand on the steering wheel and the other raised in the Nazi salute.

He’s threatening to sue

Now his party is threatening to sue the newspapers that published all this. For the “Automotivists” Turek is an “icon” as they characteristically stated and they insist on his appointment to the position of minister. It remains to be seen whether Andrey Babis will finally ask for his replacement by another motorist, as he has already stated, or whether the solution will be provided by the President of the Republic Petr Pavel, who swears in the government and can reject any minister. In any case, the new government of the Czech Republic is already causing concern in the neighboring countries, but also in Brussels with its ethno-populist orientation.

Sources: NZZ, tagesschau