Czech President appoints new prime minister.
Mr. Rusnok, 52, served as Czech Finance Minister from 2001-2002 under President Zeman.
On June 25, Czech President Milos Zeman appointed economic advisor Jiri Rusnok as Prime Minister, replacing his predecessor P. Necas, who resigned last weekend due to his involvement in a corruption and espionage scandal. He stated: “The new government is like a brigade of volunteer firefighters to put out fires started by others. I hope that the new government, composed of neutral politicians, will ensure an investigation into the political and economic scandals.”
Czech Republic President Milos Zeman (right) and newly appointed Prime Minister Jiri Rusnok. (Photo: AP) |
Mr. Rusnok, 52, previously served as Czech Finance Minister from 2001-2002 under Mr. Zeman and as Minister of Industry and Trade. He is currently the Chairman of the Board of Directors of a pension fund. However, Prime Minister-designate Rusnok and his cabinet will have to pass a vote of confidence in Parliament to govern the country until the next general election, expected in May 2014.
For his part, he said it would take him two weeks to form a technocratic government of experts: “We will prepare the state budget. This is a fundamental task of the government. Members of parliament will have to decide, either they will offer meaningless opinions or they will act in the way that the voters have empowered them to do.”
According to analysts, President Zeman's decision to appoint the new prime minister has sparked conflict with the parties in the ruling center-right coalition, which had previously put forward its own candidate for the new cabinet head. In an initial reaction, Miroslav Kalousek, Vice Chairman of the TOP09 party in the outgoing ruling coalition, declared that Rusnok's cabinet would not be able to pass a vote of confidence in Parliament. And if this becomes a reality, the Czech Republic will continue to be mired in political instability.
Earlier, on June 19, the ruling center-right Civic Democratic Party (ODS) nominated the Speaker of the Lower House, Miroslava Nemcova, for the position of Prime Minister. She is the fourth most popular politician in the Czech Republic and enjoys the support of 33% of the population.
The Czech Republic is plunged into a political crisis after Prime Minister Necas resigned on June 17th amidst the arrests of several close aides and political allies on charges of involvement in a corruption and espionage scandal. This means that the Czech government headed by Necas must also resign.
According to VOV - DT
