Czech government reshuffled after party leaves but parliament majority retained

Czech President Petr Pavel swore in two new ministers on Tuesday as part of a reshuffle of the government following the decision of junior coalition partner the Pirates to leave the Cabinet.

Prime Minister Petr Fiala’s government retains a majority in Parliament’s lower house even without the Pirates, with four other parties remaining in the coalition.

The president appoints and dismisses government ministers at the request of the prime minister.

The crisis began on September 24 when Mr Fiala announced the dismissal of regional development minister Ivan Bartos, leader of the Pirates.

He said he had lost trust in Mr Bartos’s ability to deal with problems linked to a new digital system for issuing building permits.

The Pirates said the move was in breech of their coalition agreement. Two other ministers representing the Pirates offered their resignations.

But Mr Fiala refused to accept the resignation of Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky. The vocal supporter of Ukraine’s efforts to fight Russia’s invasion then opted to leave the Pirates and stay in the government.

Mr Fiala eliminated the post of the minister for legislation which had been occupied by the other member of the Pirates party who resigned.

The changes came after a major opposition party dominated last month’s regional elections and also won most the most seats in a separate election for one-third of the seats in Parliament’s upper house, the Senate.

The victories are a boost for the opposition group, ANO (Yes), led by former populist prime minister Andrej Babis, ahead of next year’s parliamentary election.

The president also swore in industry and trade minister Lukas Vlcek to replace Jozef Sikela, who has been nominated to be commissioner for international partnerships in the new European Commission, the European Union executive body.