MP Igor Cerveny is the new candidate for the position of Minister of the Environment nominated by the Motorists party, Prime Minister Andrej Babis (ANO) said at a press conference today after a government meeting, adding that he had already proposed Cerveny to President Petr Pavel.
Currently, Petr Macinka, leader of the Motorists party and also the Minister of Foreign Affairs, is in charge of running the Environment Ministry.
MP Filip Turek (Motorists), the government’s commissioner for climate policy and the Green Deal, announced on Instagram on Sunday that the Motorists would soon present a new candidate. He said the new minister should work alongside him at the Environment Ministry, and “will be very serious and will do whatever I ask him to do.”
Pavel refused to appoint Turek as minister, among other things, because of his past controversial statements and behaviour.
“We made a concession to the Presidential Office (KPR),” said Turek after the government meeting. According to Turek, Cerveny has a similar view on the fight against the Green Deal and emission allowances.
Babis expects the president to immediately appoint Cerveny as Minister of the Environment, he said at a press conference after the government meeting. Babis also said he himself would task Cerveny with priorities that would include the New Green Savings programme and emission allowances.
Cerveny said that he and Turek shared the view on sustainable development. “We will focus on what the Ministry of the Environment should concentrate on, which is nature conservation,” he said. “We want emission allowances to be aligned with the original idea and not with something that will destroy our industry.”
Cerveny insisted that the Motorists are not against nature, but against “mindless green ideology”. “Let’s also protect our industry,” he said. “That is the only thing a capitalist country can subsequently make money on and use that money for social compensation in the system.”
There was speculation in the media that Jaromir Wasserbauer, senior director of the technical environmental protection section, could be a candidate. However, Turek refuted this before the government meeting, saying that although Wasserbauer would be an excellent candidate, he already had an established position at the ministry.
Macinka became embroiled in a dispute with Pavel over his refusal to appoint Turek. Rallies organised by the Million Moments association were held two weeks ago in Prague and last weekend in hundreds of towns and villages across the country, in support of the president. KPR recently stated that Pavel was ready to appoint a minister of the environment and was awaiting a new proposal from the prime minister.
