Cabinet agrees on Kuzvart for EU commissioner, junior members abstain

The Czech government has approved Milos Kuzvart, a former environment minister and serving MP for the Social Democrats, to become the Czech Republic's first representative to the European Commission. The decision to put forward Mr Kuzvart had been widely expected despite objections within the two junior government parties, the Christian Democrats and the Freedom Union. On Wednesday government spokeswoman Anna Veverkova told the Czech news agency CTK the decision to appoint Mr Kuzvart had not been unanimous, with ministers from the junior parties abstaining on the decision. In recent weeks junior party members had made it clear that they did not agree with Mr Kuzvart's nomination, saying they would have preferred a candidate with more international experience. Still, a spokesman for Romano Prodi, the head of the European Commission, has already welcomed Mr Kuzvart's nomination as an excellent choice.