Jan Mladek named Agriculture Minister

The Czech Republic has a new Agriculture Minister - Social Democrat Jan Mladek. Mr Mladek, who was named into office by President Vaclav Klaus on Wednesday, replaces Petr Zgarba, who resigned following corruption scandals involving ministry institutions. Mr Mladek's two main priorities are to change the way key ministry institutions such as the Czech Land Fund are run and ensure that the agriculture sector's use of EU money is efficient.