Fiala: I want to have the changes in the government ready by the end of next week

“Mr. President accepted my proposal to dismiss Ivan Bartoš from the position of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Regional Development as of today and entrust the performance of the position of Minister for Regional Development to Deputy Prime Minister Marian Jurečka from November 1,” announced Prime Minister Petr Fiala (ODS) after meeting with the President Peter Pavle.

At the moment when Fiala was announcing the results of the meeting with the head of state, the Pirates published the results of their several-day vote on remaining in the government. They will leave the cabinet, which the outgoing chairman of the Pirates and the now dismissed deputy prime minister Bartoš had already announced in advance. According to the Fiala party, he violated the coalition agreement when Bartoš proposed to be removed from his position last Tuesday due to the problematic digitization of construction procedures. The pirates understood it as “kicking out of the government”.

“Mr. President and I agreed that we are both interested in making definitive changes in the government very quickly. For me, the ideal idea is to have everything done by the end of next week,” announced Fiala.

On Tuesday, October 1, pirate foreign ministers Jan Lipavský and the Minister of Legislation Michal Šalomoun will resign. “I would like to be clear about the next course of action by Wednesday and to make changes in a very short time that will lead to greater efficiency and the ability of the government to act,” explained Fiala.

He would like to fill the post of minister for regional development definitively at the same time as the position of minister of industry and trade, which will be vacated by the current head of the department, Jozef Síkela (STAN), who will head to Brussels as a European commissioner. He could be replaced by first vice-chairman STAN Lukáš Vlček, Fiala will meet with him this week.

In addition to his resignation, Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský will probably also leave the Czech Pirate Party. He could remain in the cabinet as a non-party member. Fiala would welcome it, but expects that the government coalition will still discuss this matter.

“Jan Lipavský will resign and then some other negotiations may follow. I can imagine that he would continue in the government as a non-partisan. I would see it as an advantage for the government and the Czech Republic as such,” explained Fiala. Other leaders of government parties, i.e. STAN, KDU-ČSL and TOP 09, would also welcome Lipavský remaining in the government.

“Jan Lipavský is a very good minister of foreign affairs. He is a person who has proven himself in those three years. The establishment of certain informal contacts abroad and continuity are important in the foreign ministry,” added the prime minister.