Three new ministers take office

President Václav Klaus has appointed three new ministers to the caretaker government. The appointments mark the first change to the government’s composition since it took office in the early summer. Juraj Chmiel, the Czech Republic’s former ambassador to Australia, has become Minister of European Affairs, a vacancy created by the nomination of the former minister to the post of European commissioner. Deputy environment minister Jan Dusík has taken the head seat in that ministry as outgoing minister Ladislav Miko returns to the EU’s environmental protection directorate. The third change involves the creation of a new cabinet post, that of the chairman of the government’s legislative council. That position will now be held by Social Democrat nominee Pavel Zářecký.