STRONG BUY, page-689

Havliček said it will be subsidies in the billions of Czech crowns...

Also, this is an opinion article from today's Hospodářské noviny (Economic Daily), it shows how the interests of the government are aligned with ours:

"Gigafactory" as an election trump card. But VW knows how much Babiš needs it
(written by Luděk Vainert: https://archiv.ihned.cz/c1-66936130-bdquo-gigafactory-ldquo-jako-volebni-trumf-vw-ale-vi-jak-moc-ji-babis-potrebuje)

If the Czech automotive industry wants to prosper in the next decades, radical changes await it. The shift away from "dirty" fossil fuels is undeniable. We can point to the weaknesses of electromobility, but that is all that can be done against it now. Alternatives such as hydrogen power are an elegant solution, but the practical obstacles are too many. So the domestic "car industry" is facing a rapid shift away from pistons and turbochargers to electric motors and batteries.

The latter component is key. European carmakers are still too dependent on battery imports from Asia, which is unsustainable with the upcoming large-scale production of electric cars. Volkswagen, which after Dieselgate has become one of the most active apostles of locally emission-free cars, will build six battery factories in Europe this decade, which will match the largest plants of industry leader Tesla in terms of production capacity in gigawatt hours. Will one of them be built here?

The government and CEZ (which is to be involved in lithium mining at Babiš's request) have been negotiating with Volkswagen for months and a decision is said to be imminent. According to what Deputy Prime Minister Karel Havlicek said on Thursday during a no-confidence vote against the government, the verdict will be reached within a few weeks. Havlíček used this as an argument why Babiš's cabinet must not fall. The bureaucratic minister would hardly take responsibility for the investment incentive, he said. Billions are at stake.

However, we have had a system of investment incentives for more than twenty years and their conditions are adapted to the goal of bringing high value-added development or production to the country. Governments have also adopted concepts to promote electromobility, and the development of the automotive industry has a place in their investment plans. Yet again, the decision has to be taken at the highest level, just like years ago when Hyundai or TCPA were lured into the country.

Meanwhile, the Babiš government has an incentive to give in to VW. The "Gigafactory" in northern Bohemia would be an important electoral argument built on firmer foundations than the "two thousand billion" from lithium that helped Babiš to a convincing victory in 2017.