ANO leader Andrej Babis handed the list of ministers nominated by his incoming coalition government to Czech President Petr Pavel this morning, but with Filip Turek (Motorists) left off the list for health reasons, he told reporters after the president appointed him as prime minister.
President Petr Pavel will appoint the government of Babis’s ANO, the far-right SPD, and the national-conservative Motorists on Monday at 9am, the Presidential Office (KPR) announced today in a press release.
The president has had reservations about Turek’s appointment. Turek is the only candidate for minister who did not have talks with Pavel, after he excused himself from the meeting scheduled for yesterday for health reasons. Babis expects Turek to meet Pavel after his recovery.
Babis told CTK today that Motorists leader Petr Macinka, who is to be appointed foreign minister, would also temporarily head the Environment Ministry. “The name of Turek does not appear in the motion I brought, based on the decision of Motorists chairman Macinka,” he said.
President Pavel has repeatedly said he has reservations about Turek’s appointment. Turek has faced criticism for racist and homophobic posts on social media. He has apologised for the remarks but denied authorship of some of them. Controversy has also been stirred by his asset declarations and reports that he threatened a Saudi embassy employee eight years ago. Turek describes his cases as media provocations, and has previously said he wants to explain them to the president.
Macinka said today that the Motorists were not looking for any other candidate than Turek for environment minister. He said Turek was not among the candidates for ministers only because of his health problems. Turek is to undergo a minor procedure in hospital on Monday, he added.
“If it goes well, it will rule out the possibility of some more complicated surgery,” Macinka said. Turek is hospitalized with back pain.
Macinka said he was prepared to temporarily head the Environment Ministry for as long as necessary. He said he would prefer the cabinet to be complete when the lower house of parliament asks for its confidence, which will be in mid-January.
Turek told Czech Television that his health condition was improving. He said he would ask President Pavel for a meeting as soon as he was able to take part in it.
The appointment of the new government is being rushed partly because of the EU summit at the end of next week, Babis said. “There is a lot of activity in Brussels in December and we would like to participate already,” he said.
SPD leader Tomio Okamura described the steps taken by the Motorists as constructive. They did not nominate Turek to the government so as not to delay its appointment, he said.
Opposition MPs who spoke to CTK said the Motorists should choose a different candidate for minister than Turek.
“The Motorists should urgently put forward another candidate for the Ministry of the Environment,” said Christian Democrat (KDU-CSL) MP Jan Bartosek. At the very least, someone who does not have a warm relationship with Nazism and does not give the Nazi salute so often,”
