PM Sobotka to review performances of foreign and industry ministers

Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka continues his review tour of ministers on Tuesday. It’s the turn of Minister of Foreign Affairs Lubomír Zaorálek and Minister for Industry and Trade Jan Mládek. Zaorálek came under fire recently when he masterminded a declaration of four top Czech officials ostensibly seeking to calm Chinese anger over a meeting by the Christian Democrat culture minister with the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, in Prague. The declaration was dubbed servile by opposition parties. Zaorálek also likened culture minister Daniel Herman’s action to a Czech meeting with the Sudeten German leader in the 1930s. He later apologised for that remark. Mládek offered to resign ahead of his, eventually unsuccessful, attempt to be elected to the upper house, the Senate, in recent elections. Sobotka has kept him on in the post though appears to be considering a wider Cabinet reshuffle.

Author: Chris Johnstone