Czech government survives no confidence vote during EU presidency

The Czech Republic's liberal conservative government led by Prime Minister Petr Fiala survived a parliamentary vote of no confidence centring on energy prices and corruption on Friday.
The vote, which followed 22 hours of heated debate, comes as the country holds the rotating six-month presidency of the European Union up to the end of the year.
It secured the support of 84 members of parliament, well short of the 101 needed to topple the government, which has been in office since November.
Apart from the soaring energy prices affecting all European economies, the opposition cited a corruption scandal surrounding the Prague public transport authority. Members of the party led by Interior Minister Vit Rakusan are accused of being involved.
During the debate, Fiala expressed his full support for his entire Cabinet.
Former prime minister Andrej Babis charged the cabinet with being "a government of national catastrophe," warning of social unrest in face of rising energy prices.
Babis, a controversial billionaire, is seen as sure to campaign to succeed Milos Zeman as president in elections in January.
The government was toppled by a vote of no confidence in 2009, the last time the country held the EU presidency. A transitional government then took over.