Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky (unaffiliated) will run for the Civic Democrats (ODS) in the autumn parliamentary elections on the Prague candidate list of the governing Spolu coalition (ODS, KDU-CSL, and TOP 09), he announced today alongside Prime Minister and ODS leader Petr Fiala.
According to Fiala, the elections to the Chamber of Deputies will be not only about left and right, but also about the country’s value orientation and its security. Lipavsky embodies the values held by Spolu on these issues, the PM added.
Lipavsky was originally a minister for the Pirates in Fiala’s government, but left the party last October following the Pirates’ departure to the opposition. He justified this by saying that he did not agree with the party’s departure from the government, and had been at odds with it on certain issues for some time. He handed in his resignation to Fiala, but they subsequently agreed that he would remain in the government as an unaffiliated member.
Lipavsky explained his candidacy by citing the revolutionary events in the international environment in recent years and months, including the war in Ukraine, the Russian information war, and sabotage against the Czech Republic and Europe. The international order and, to some extent, the transatlantic link are weakening, he believes.
“It will therefore depend on whether the forces that want a united, secure and prosperous Europe prevail in the parliament, or those that ridicule the risks associated with Russia,” he said.
Past governments ignored or underestimated security matters, according to Lipavsky. “We must not allow for someone who does not understand security to rule, which is why we need to defeat ANO,” he said. In the next government, he wants to promote the Czech Republic’s Western orientation, he added.
Defence Minister Jana Cernochova (ODS), who will lead the Spolu candidate list in Prague, welcomed Lipavsky to the team as a person grounded in values and willing to work for the Czech Republic. She said that he had always supported her in the cabinet in promoting the topic of strengthening security. “He shares the same values, and tries to promote the good name of the Czech Republic abroad,” she said.
Lipavsky said their working harmony was “very natural”.
Fiala said that Spolu was not just a question of the party jersey, but that it was striving for openness. “It is important that our values and our conviction are represented by the people who can do so in a credible way,” he said.
The PM emphasised that he was sure Lipavsky would take very similar positions on key issues and challenges to his own.
Following the decision of TOP 09 leader and parliamentary speaker Marketa Pekarova Adamova not to defend her seat in the lower house, Cernochova should lead the Spolu candidate list in Prague. The lead candidate for TOP 09 on the list will be former MEP and former party leader Jiri Pospisil.
The ODS regional assembly will approve the Prague list of candidates on 26 March, said Marek Benda, leader of the Prague ODS branch and the party’s parliamentary group, adding that Lipavsky would be nominated for the second ODS place behind Cernochova. Lipavsky would thus be third on the candidate list, after Pospisil. KDU-CSL will be led in the Prague elections by MP Tom Philipp.
