Prague, May 19 (CTK) – Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka (Social Democrats, CSSD) told journalists today that the presidium of the Czech senior governing Social Democrats (CSSD) unanimously supported the steps he and the party political committee had taken during the ongoing government crisis.
The party board is comprised of 14 members, while the presidium has 35 members and it controls the party work between the meetings of its central executive committee.
Along with the party leader, deputy chairpersons and the heads of the deputy and senator groups, it is comprised of representatives of regional branches and another ten senior party officials.
“The Social Democrat board unanimously supported both the steps taken by me and the party committee during the government crisis,” Sobotka said after a meeting of the party board.
“I am glad that there is an unambiguous support by the party board when it comes to the Social Democrat policy as it was applied in the past 14 days,” Sobotka said.
Sobotka said it was a good thing that the party had consistently defended the constitution and the rules of the game within a democratic system.
It has clearly turned out that the policy yielded concrete results, he added.
Sobotka also praised the citizens who took to the streets in the past days.
“I think that this apparent participation of our citizens in a number of rallies across the Czech Republic clearly contributed to making President Milos Zeman respect the constitution and proceeding in accordance with it,” he added.
In the past two weeks, Zeman refused to comply with Sobotka’s proposal to dismiss Finance Minister Andrej Babis (ANO) whom he accused of tax evasion. Sobotka threatened to turn to the Constitutional Court, arguing that Zeman’s reluctance might have breached the Czech constitution.
Demonstrations against Babis and Zeman were held in several towns in the past week.
Zeman’s spokesman Jiri Ovcacek tweeted earlier today that Zeman now had no reservations about the nomination of MP Ivan Pilny (ANO) to succeed Babis as the finance minister.
