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Ivan Bartoš, the outgoing chair of the Pirate Party whom the prime minister has dismissed from the cabinet, on Wednesday met with Vít Rakušan, leader of the Mayors and Independents with whom the Pirate Party was in a coalition when it entered the government, to discuss the ongoing government crisis. The Pirates are likely to leave the government in protest against the dismissal of their leader, but Bartoš said he did not call on the Mayors and Independents to act in solidarity and walk out with them. He said the talks had focussed on a number of policy program priorities with which the two parties had entered the government and which still need to be fulfilled.

One of the country’s most popular actresses, Jiřina Bohdalová has been hospitalized and is in serious condition, Novinky.cz reported. The ninety-three-year-old actress is reported to be in intensive care at the Na Homolce Hospital as a result of food poisoning. No further details have been released.

Jiřina Bohdalová has excelled in hundreds of productions over the years, picking up two Czech Lion Awards, a Thalia Award for Lifetime Achievement and many others. She was active in film until 2023.

In the midst of the most serious coalition rift to date, the cabinet is due to meet on Wednesday to discuss the draft state budget for next year, which must be sent to the lower house by the end of September. The Finance Ministry had proposed a budget with a deficit of CZK 230 billion, but due to the damage caused by the recent floods, the proposed deficit is now CZK 10 billion higher. The cabinet is also due to approve an amendment to this year's budget, whose deficit is expected to increase by CZK 30 billion to CZK 282 billion as a result of the floods.

The National Forum of the Pirate Party will vote on whether the party should leave the government following their leader’ s dismissal from government posts. The prime minister’s announcement on Tuesday that he would propose the dismissal of Pirate Party leader Ivan Bartoš from his post as deputy prime minister and minister for regional development has precipitated the most serious government crisis since the Fiala administration took office.

Prime Minister Fiala stressed that his decision to sack Bartoš for incompetence did not mean that he wanted to terminate the coalition agreement with the Pirate Party as such and stressed that he was highly satisfied with the work of the party’s two other ministers - Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský and Minister for Legislation Michal Šalomoun.

However the Pirates see it as a breach of the coalition agreement and there have been mounting calls for the party to walk out of the government. The party’s National Forum is to vote on the matter online from Friday 27 September until Monday 30 September.

Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský, who is attending the 79th session of the UN Generally Assembly in New York, has said that if the Pirate Party decides to leave the government he will offer his resignation and simultaneously leave the ranks of the Pirate Party. Lipavský said he could not identify with some of the statements made about the government at Tuesday’s press conference of the Pirate Party.