Fiala will meet both Hladik and Zeman in the coming days to discuss the nomination. Photo credit: Petr Fiala, via Facebook.
Prague/Brussels, Oct 21 (CTK) – Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala (ODS) expressed his belief that the situation around Christian Democrat (KDU-CSL) candidate for environment minister, Petr Hladik, would clarify within a number of weeks, so he can be nominated to the president with a clear conscience. The remarks were made at a press conference yesterday in Brussels.
The KDU-CSL national committee met on Thursday to reconsider Hladik’s nomination after the police intervened at Brno City Hall on Tuesday in an investigation into the privatisation of municipal flats in Brno. Hladik was Brno’s Deputy Mayor in the previous city administration that recently ended, and the police also searched his office and contacted him as part of their investigations.
KDU-CSL re-endorsed Hladik’s nomination on Thursday evening. Fiala said he respected their decision, but told the press conference he feels he can only propose Hladik’s appointment to President Milos Zeman after it is clear that Hladik is not under investigation and his involvement in the case is clarified.
He said this would become clear in several weeks. In the meantime, Deputy Prime Minister Marian Jurecka (KDU-CSL) will be the temporary head of the Environment Ministry.
Environment Minister Anna Hubackova (KDU-CSL) has resigned from her post for health reasons. She wants to leave the cabinet by 31 October due to scheduled medical treatment.
Fiala will meet Hladik in the coming days to discuss the nomination, and next week he will have a regular scheduled meeting with the President, where the matter will be discussed further.
Jurecka said on Thursday that Hladik had explained everything clearly to the wider KDU-CSL leadership and that he has not been accused of any crime. The leadership said in a statement that it considers Hladik a competent and honest man. Jurecka said if it turns out that any party members have violated the law, the KDU-CSL will react very quickly.
On Tuesday, the police searched the housing office at the Brno City Hall, the town halls of the Brno-North and Brno-Cernovice municipalities and the Cernovice sand quarry. The Brno Municipal Court yesterday remanded all seven people charged in the case in custody.
