Schwarzenberg hospitalized, return to cabinet uncertain

One Green Party senator who was not at Sunday’s meeting was foreign minister Karel Schwarzenberg. Mr Schwarzenberg was admitted to hospital on Sunday, where he will undergo heart surgery. It is thought that the foreign minister will spend ten to fourteen days in hospital. There is some speculation that upon his release from hospital, Mr Schwarzenberg may resign from his post as minister for health reasons. His long-term adversary in the government, the Christian Democrat leader Jiří Čunek, is expected to make a return to the cabinet during Mr Schwarzenberg’s hospitalization. Mr Čunek resigned in November, dogged by several corruption scandals, in the face of which, Mr Schwarzenberg says, he has never convincingly proved his innocence. Mr Schwarzenberg has said that he is unable to sit in the same cabinet as someone who is unable to disprove corruption allegations.