Ceske Budejovice, South Bohemia, April 26 (CTK) – The Social Democrats (CSSD), the Pro South Bohemia grouping, the Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL) and the South Bohemians 2012 signed a coalition agreement on a new South Bohemia regional government today.
The coalition will have a tight majority of 28 seats in the 55-member assembly.
Ivana Straska (CSSD) will become a new regional governor on Thursday, replacing Jiri Zimola (CSSD) who has announced his resignation.
The coalition of the CSSD, ANO and South Bohemians 2012, formed after last October’s regional elections, has ended mainly because of disputes about the financing of the management of the South Bohemian Hospitals firm controlled by the region.
The ANO movement of Finance Minister Andrej Babis, which ended second strongest in the regional election, goes into opposition.
Straska will have four deputies, one from each coalition entity. The CSSD will have four representatives in the 11-member council, Pro South Bohemia three and the KDU-CSL and South Bohemains 2012 each two.
The new coalition agreed to change the system of remuneration of the South Bohemian Hospitals’ management.
The board chairman of the firm, Martin Blaha, said last week he will resign. He will be replaced by Zuzana Roithova (KDU-CSL), former health minister who is now a regional assembly member.
ANO criticised the fact that Blaha is paid 7.2 million crowns annually.
“We believe that the planned changes will save millions of crowns annually. We want to redistribute the money among doctors and nurses,” Jan Bartosek, head of the KDU-CSL in South Bohemia, said.
($1=24.580 crowns)
