PM wants more money for civil servants

Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka has said he will push for civil servants to get a salary increase higher than the 2.5 percent proposed by Finance Minister Andrej Babiš. Salary hikes for civil servants in 2015 have become an issue of controversy between the two biggest coalition partners, the Social Democrats and ANO, with the Social Democrats trying to make good on their generous election promises, and ANO, which controls the finance ministry, pushing for greater fiscal restraint. The junior partner in the centre-left coalition the Christian Democrats have so far failed to take a stand. The matter is to be debated at Wednesday’s cabinet meeting.