Incoming Czech PM: I will not change list of ministerial nominees

In an interview with the daily Právo that was published on Saturday, designated Prime Minister Petr Fiala said that he believes that his government will be named next week and that he has no intention of changing his list of ministerial nominees.

He said that he was not surprised by President Miloš Zeman’s announcement that he will not accept the nominee for Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jan Lipavský of the Pirate Party, and that the Together and Pirates and Mayors coalition is ready to counter the president. Mr Fiala said that the Czech Republic is a Parliamentary Democracy and not a Semi-Presidential system. He went on to say that he will announce the concrete steps that the coalition is ready to make in order to insure that all of the nominees get approved by the president on Monday.

On Friday, President Zeman officially announced that he does not intend to accept Jan Lipavský as Foreign Minister, due to the latter’s stance on Israel and the fact that Mr Lipavský only holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations, which the president does not consider to be a sufficient qualification. From 2017-2021 Jan Lipavský was deputy chairman of the Chamber of Deputies’ committees on foreign affairs and defence.