More than 20 environmental organisations have issued an open letter calling on ANO leader Andrej Babis not to nominate anyone from the Motorists party to head the Environment Ministry, and pointing out that the Motorists’ environmental agenda is in conflict with that of ANO.
Instead, they are requesting that the post be filled by a candidate who can link environmental protection with the development of modern industry, energy and agriculture, and who relies on scientific knowledge and dialogue with experts.
More than 50 university professors and 400 scientists also signed and sent a similar open letter to Babis yesterday.
The open letters were written following reports that Petr Macinka, leader of the Motorists, is a possible candidate for environment minister.
Babis, as head of the ANO movement which won last weekend’s elections, is currently negotiating a coalition government with Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) and the Motorists.
Environmentalists point out that the ANO programme promises to create conditions for the development of solar, wind and hydro power plants as an important part of a low-carbon energy mix, while the Motorists plan to end support for renewables.
The Motorists also want to abandon the principle of “no human interference”, on which former ANO Environment Minister Richard Brabec built the amendment to the nature protection law in 2017, which saved valuable parts of the Czech national parks.
The organisations point out that ANO wants to continue the successful New Green Savings and subsidies programmes for modern boilers, which help households reduce energy costs and improve air quality, while the Motorists are pushing for their abolition.
The Motorists’ programme calls for the use of coal in the energy sector until it is directly replaced by nuclear power, without the use of renewables. According to the environmentalists, this is also contrary to the ANO programme.
The letter was signed by organisations such as Arnika, People in Need and Greenpeace Czech Republic.
In their letter, the professors and scientists ask Babis not to destroy what ANO achieved in this ministry between 2014 and 2021. According to the signatories, incompetent leadership of the ministry would jeopardise environmental protection and the distribution of subsidies to households and municipalities from European funds, to which ANO has committed itself.
