Ex-minister Dlouhy turns down offer to become Czech ambassador to Brussels

Vladimir Dlouhy, a former Czech minister of industry and trade, has rejected an offer to become the Czech ambassador to the European Union in Brussels next year. The Czech government wants to dismiss the present ambassador Jan Kohout to improve communication between the embassy and Prague, only a year before the Czech Republic assumes the EU presidency. Vladimir Dlouhy, who was the most popular Czech politician for most of the 1990s, said on Sunday that he was too busy to accept the post. After Dlouhy left politics in 1998, he started pursuing an academic career.