President Pavel appoints two new cabinet ministers to office
President Petr Pavel has appointed two new ministers to the government of Petr Fiala: Petr Kulhánek of the Mayors and Independents as Minister for Regional Development, and Lukáš Vlček from the same party as Minister of Industry and Trade. Vlček will replace Jozef Síkela who is heading to the European Commission, while Kulhánek will succeed Ivan Bartoš, the outgoing leader of the Pirate Party, who in September was dismissed from his position as Deputy Prime Minister for Digitisation and Minister of Regional Development. Both ministers are taking up their official duties immediately.