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Czech Republic's new government has a difficult start - but there is agreement on nuclear energy

2022-01-14T11:23:06.101Z


Czech Republic's new government has a difficult start - but there is agreement on nuclear energy Created: 01/14/2022, 12:18 p.m By: Aleksandra Fedorska Milos Zeman (front, M), President of the Czech Republic, and the ministers of the new Czech five-party cabinet headed by Prime Minister Fiala, which includes Fiala's Civic Democrats (ODS), Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL), Mayor's Party (STAN) , Pi


Czech Republic's new government has a difficult start - but there is agreement on nuclear energy

Created: 01/14/2022, 12:18 p.m

By: Aleksandra Fedorska

Milos Zeman (front, M), President of the Czech Republic, and the ministers of the new Czech five-party cabinet headed by Prime Minister Fiala, which includes Fiala's Civic Democrats (ODS), Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL), Mayor's Party (STAN) , Pirate Party and the bourgeois group TOP09 gather for a photo at the Presidential Palace.

In the middle of the fourth corona wave, a new liberal-conservative government took office in the Czech Republic.

President Zeman swore in the cabinet ministers under Prime Minister Fiala at Lany Castle near Prague.

© Simanek Vit/dpa

The Czech governing coalition is confronted with the Corona crisis, galloping price developments and problems in energy policy.

This leads to tensions with President Zeman.

  • Petr Fiala's government had a difficult start with Miloš Zeman.

  • The most important tasks of the government relate to Corona* policy, the fight against inflation and energy policy.

  • Nuclear expansion plans and the importance of the automotive industry for the Czech Republic* could lead to tensions in foreign policy in the future.

Prague – With a president like Miloš Zeman, the new Czech government of Prime Minister Petr Fiala will not have it easy.

There was already a taste, because Zeman initially did not want to accept the new Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky, but finally gave in.

The new government could then be sworn in on December 17, 2021.

The controversy surrounding Jan Lipavsky, a politician from the ranks of the Czech Pirate Party, also concerned his attitude towards the Sudeten Germans.

In 2019, Lipavsky is said to have welcomed Horst Seehofer's proposal to hold the annual congress of Sudeten Germans in the Czech Republic.

Zeman also complained that Lipavsky is extremely critical of China* and Russia*.

A further rapprochement with Taiwan would be possible in this context.

Lipavsky has also taken a distanced and critical stance towards the governments in Budapest and Warsaw.

After all, the Czech foreign minister is also one of those politicians who condemn the actions of the Israeli authorities on the Palestinian issue.

Czech Republic: New government ends Corona state of emergency - and goes into confrontation on climate policy

After the new government took office, it decided not to extend the state of emergency that was introduced against the background of the corona pandemic. Otherwise, dealing with the virus will remain an important issue for the Czech government in the near future. "We are facing huge problems, be it Covid, energy prices, rising prices, inflation and everything that comes with it," Fiala told Czech media.

When it comes to climate policy, the new Environment Minister Anna Hubáčková will also have to take on the President, because Zeman doesn't think much of European climate protection policy.

Hubáčková, on the other hand, supports Brussels' climate policy goals in principle.

“The Fit for 55 package is very important and the Czech Republic supports its fundamental goal of reducing emissions by 2030.

But we also need to monitor the social impact and make sure that some proposals on buildings and transport do not result in a significantly higher risk of poverty,” said Hubáčková.

EU: No more combustion engines – the automotive industry is of central importance for the Czech Republic

Objections came from several ministries when Brussels discussed the end of combustion engines in new cars.

Given the importance of the automotive industry for the Czech economy, this is a sensitive topic in Prague.

It must be expected that the Czech Republic will continue to position itself against such projects in the future.

In the Czech Republic, European energy and climate policy are primarily blamed for the enormously increased prices.

"The governments of Petr Fiala and Andrej Babiš bear full responsibility for rising prices and can withdraw from the Green Deal and also from the emissions trading system, which has become a tool for speculators," says the leader of the right-wing opposition party SPD, Tomio Okamura .

Czech consumers are currently struggling with an inflation rate of around 6 percent.

That's still relatively low compared to a region where inflation can even exceed 8 percent, like the Baltic States.

More than almost any other monetary institution in Central and Eastern Europe, the Czech central bank quickly raised the key interest rate to 3.75 percent.

Expansion of nuclear energy: cross-party support in the Czech Republic – no energy transition based on the German model

Ivan Bartoš, leader of the Pirate Party, has become Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Regional Development and Digitization in the new government. Among other things, he criticized the president for spreading disinformation about a possible ban on gas heating after 2030. The leader of the coalition party Top 09, Markéta Pekarová Adamová, also spoke critically. "Again this year, his Christmas speech was not a message, but a list of his views," she said to the Czech president.

Criticism of the president's rigid stance does not mean, however, that the head of state and the government do not agree on individual points.

Cross-party support for the expansion of nuclear power in the Czech Republic is high.

Nuclear power is a central instrument of national climate policy.

None of the five coalition partners (ODS, STAN, KDU-ČSL, Piráti, TOP 09) are aiming for an energy transition based on the German model.

(Aleksandra Fedorska) *Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA).

Source: merkur

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