Prague, Dec 3 (CTK) – Robert Plaga (ANO), deputy education minister for universities, will be the education minister in the new Czech cabinet to be appointed in mid-December, its head Andrej Babis (ANO) said on Czech Television on Sunday, confirming the name of the last still officially unknown minister.
The complete draft lineup of the 15-seat minority cabinet of Babis, whose ANO movement comfortably won the October general election is known now.
On November 28, Babis submitted his list of ministerial candidates to President Milos Zeman, but neither of them would disclose the candidates’ names. Media speculations in this respect have been gradually confirmed or dismissed by insiders since.
Plaga, 39, is a deputy education minister responsible for the ministry’s section of universities, science and research, and a member of the Brno city assembly.
Babis said all members of his planned cabinet will meet next week to discuss the cabinet’s first tasks.
Babis, whose ANO occupies 78 seats in the 200-seat lower house of parliament, previously said he would form a minority government comprised of ANO members and independent experts. Zeman supported the idea and said he would appoint Babis prime minister-designate on December 6 and his cabinet on December 13.
Babis said he wants to meet all the candidates for ministers next week.
“It would be good for us to meet. We will consult and discuss the first tasks and decisions we want to make,” Babis told Czech Television.
His cabinet will include nine ministers who were members of a cabinet never before.
It will include four women.
In addition to Babis, former finance minister, the government will include another five ANO ministers who were part of the outgoing cabinet which ANO shared with the Social Democrats (CSSD) and the Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL) – Richard Brabec as environment minister, Dan Tok as transport minister, Robert Pelikan as justice minister, Martin Stropnicky, the outgoing defence minister who will become foreign minister, and Karla Slechtova, the outgoing regional development minister who will become defence minister now.
Apart from Plaga, the government newcomers will be Adam Vojtech, ANO MP and Babis’s advisor, as health minister, musicologist Ilja Smid as culture minister, ANO MP Klara Dostalova as regional development minister, deputy finance minister Alena Schillerova as finance minister, Siemens manager Tomas Huner as industry and trade minister, Central Bohemia regional councillor Jaroslava Nemcova as labour and social affairs minister, former deputy interior minister Lubomir Metnar as interior minister and the Usovsko food concern owner Jiri Milek as agriculture minister.
Probable lineup of the cabinet completed by Andrej Babis:
Prime minister Andrej Babis
Transport minister Dan Tok
Finance minister Alena Schillerova
Culture minister Ilja Smid
Defence minister Karla Slechtova
Labour and social affairs minister Jaroslava Nemcova
Regional Development Minister Klara Dostalova
Industry and trade minister Tomas Huner
Justice minister Robert Pelikan
Education minister Robert Plaga
Interior minister Lubomir Metnar
Foreign minister Martin Stropnicky
Health minister Adam Vojtech
Agriculture minister Jiri Milek
Environment Minister Richard Brabec
