Deputy Prime Minister and acting Foreign Minister Jan Hamacek (CSSD) who leads the Social Democrats in the governing coalition wrote to PM Andrej Babis on Tuesday, and asked him to nominate Tomas Petricek as Foreign Minister.
Petricek who is currently a deputy minister and a CSSD political appointee at the foreign ministry, is the former assistant of MEP Miroslav Poche, who was originally nominated to the position by the CSSD. President Milos Zeman declined to appoint Poche, and Hamacek has been acting minister along with holding the Interior ministry.
Petricek, who is 36 and represents CSSD’s younger generation, is also a candidate in the upcoming communal elections in Prague. His potential appointment was greeted with skepticism by some including former minister Karel Schwarzenberg.