Roughly half of Czechs believe there is no need for a new Ministry for Sport, Prevention and Health, according to a survey conducted by the NMS agency for Czech Radio and released today.
The minister with this brief in the emerging government of ANO, Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) and the Motorists should be MP Boris Stastny (Motorists). According to ANO deputy leader Karel Havlicek, the new post will not require a new ministry with its own building and staff.
The Czech Union of Sport (CUS) has issued a statement opposing the results of the survey, arguing that the question was misleading because there would not be a new ministry, but the new post would be a minister without portfolio.
A total of 1,021 people took part in the survey at the end of November.
47% of respondents perceived the creation of a new ministry as unnecessary.
According to NMS analyst Tereza Friedrichova, there is quite strong public opposition to the expansion of the government structure. 35% of respondents are in favour of it, while just under a fifth said they did not know.
“Attitudes largely reflect who we have voted for. If we supported the Motorists, we wish that Boris Stastny had his sports ministry; if we voted for the Spolu coalition, we are more likely to think that we don’t need another such ministry,” Friedrichova said.
Six out of ten Motorist voters are in favour of the new ministry, while ANO and SPD supporters are split, according to the poll. Half of them would support the new ministry, while the other half consider it unnecessary or do not know.
Voters of the Spolu coalition, the Mayors and Independents (STAN), and the Pirates are mostly against the new ministry. The highest opposition is found among Spolu voters, of whom 71% reject the new office.
Havlicek previously said that no new ministry would be created. “There will not be a sports ministry, because there is the National Sports Agency, but there will be a sports minister,” Havlicek said. “So there will be no new staff, it will be basically the same as it was, but sport will have one representative in the government, and it will have stronger representation.”
This was confirmed by CUS president Jan Bohac. “If people hear that a new ministry is to be created, they naturally imagine another bureaucratic apparatus, and that is why they have a reserved attitude towards such an option. However, the Ministry of Sport is not being established, just a Minister for Sport without a portfolio. So there is no question of building a new office,” said Bohac.
He said the question on the creation of the ministry was asked in a misleading and methodologically inadequate way.
With the position of sports minister, the incoming government wants to make it clear that the physical exercise of children is as important as the fight against diseases of civilisation, and that this is one of its top priorities. The government also wants to stress the need to link the agendas that fall under the education and health ministries. President Petr Pavel held talks with Stastny yesterday.
