President Petr Pavel appointed Igor Cerveny as the Environment Minister at Prague Castle this morning, thus completing the cabinet of Prime Minister Andrej Babis (ANO) after roughly two months.
Cerveny was nominated by the Motorists party, Until now, the Ministry of the Environment was temporarily headed by Foreign Affairs Minister and Deputy PM Petr Macinka, leader of the Motorists.
Babis subsequently officially inaugurated Cerveny at the Environment Ministry. Deputy Environment Minister Pavel Vlcek and Government Commissioner for Climate Policy and the Green Deal Filip Turek waited for Babis and Cerveny on a green carpet in front of the ministry. Upon arriving at the ministry, Cerveny said only that his first task would be the New Green Savings subsidy programme.
“The Ministry of the Environment has recently been affected by a series of emotions, as if all the issues that this ministry should deal with had been narrowed down to some kind of fight against green ideologies,” said Pavel after appointing Cerveny. “I am convinced that we should do our utmost to return to the essence of what this ministry serves, which is environmental protection.”
According to Pavel, it is important to work with data, not emotions. He said that not all analyses were objective and some were minority opinions. “It will be the minister’s task to work with opinions that represent the majority view of experts not only in our country, but also around the world,” the president said.
Pavel said environmental protection is not only about emission allowances and energy-saving programmes, but also about the quality of air, water, and soil. In this context, he called for a debate with experts, the opposition, citizens, and representatives of national parks and organisations dedicated to environmental protection. “The absence of debate will only lead to further emotions,” the president warned.
Pavel refused to appoint the original candidate for the post, Turek, due to his controversial views and past statements. The Motorists initially stated that they would not propose another candidate for minister, but they presented their MP Cerveny as the nominee last Sunday. According to Turek, the party has thus made a concession to the Presidential Office.
After a meeting with the president on Thursday, Cerveny said that if Pavel appointed him, there would be a small “Holy Trinity” at the ministry, also including Jaromir Wasserbauer, director of the technical environmental protection section, and Turek as the government’s climate commissioner since mid-January.
IT specialist and digitisation expert Cerveny, 41, has been an MP for the Motorists since last October’s general election, elected from the second place on the party’s list of candidates in the Central Bohemia Region. In the Chamber of Deputies, he is deputy chair of the economic committee and the health committee, and he also serves on several subcommittees, including the energy subcommittee.
