New Czech government sworn in

On December 13, Czech President Miloš Zeman officially appointed a minority government of 14 ministers.

The cabinet members are from the ANO movement and technocrats led by billionaire Andrej Babis as Prime Minister.

Czech Prime Minister Babis. Photo: ABC.

Speaking at the ceremony, President Zeman asked the new Government to immediately begin performing its functions and tasks. The President also announced that he would continue to appoint Mr. Babis as Prime Minister, even in case the new Government fails to pass the upcoming vote of confidence in the House of Representatives.

For his part, new Prime Minister Andrej Babis said the Government will announce its action program on December 17 before starting negotiations with the remaining parties in the House of Representatives to gain the necessary votes to pass the confidence vote.

Mr. Babis wants the vote of confidence in the new government to take place on January 10, 2018. According to the election platform of the ANO Movement led by Mr. Babis, the Czech government will improve pensions and digitize administrative procedures.

The new Czech government will not have a minister in charge of human rights and a minister in charge of the legislative council. These tasks will fall under the Ministry of Justice. Prime Minister Babis will directly lead the Council for Research, Development and Innovation, eliminating the position of Deputy Prime Minister in charge of this issue. The new government will have four female ministers, taking on the positions of Minister of Defense, Minister of Finance, Minister of Regional Development and Minister of Labor and Social Affairs.

In the general election held last October, Mr. Babis’s ANO movement won a resounding victory, winning 78 out of 200 seats in the House of Representatives. However, Mr. Babis was unable to convince the parties with seats in the House of Representatives to join the ruling coalition, and was forced to form a minority government./.

According to VOV