Sunday, November 28th, 2021
Ceremony with obstacles
Fiala new head of government of the Czech Republic
The appointment of the Conservative Fiala is going differently than planned. Because of hospital stays and a Covid 19 disease, President Zeman is holding the ceremony late – and from a plastic box.
In an unusual ceremony, Czech President Milos Zeman appointed the conservative Petr Fiala as the country’s new head of government. From a wheelchair and separated from Fiala by a plastic wall, Zeman, suffering from Covid-19, officially introduced the head of the center-right alliance Spolu (Together) to the office of Prime Minister on Sunday. The ceremony took place in Zeman’s residence, Lany Castle near Prague.
Zeman announced during the live televised ceremony that he intends to conclude his meetings with candidates for ministerial offices by December 13th at the latest. “Then we can prepare for the government’s appointment,” he said. Fiala himself was “convinced that we will soon have a strong and stable government”.
The 57-year-old former political professor Fiala is the head of the conservative ODS party, which together with two other parties forms the Spolu alliance. From the parliamentary elections on October 9, the center-right alliance emerged as the strongest force – with a wafer-thin distance to the populist ano-movement of the outgoing Prime Minister Andrej Babis. The parties united in the Spolu Alliance have already signed their coalition agreement.
Discharged from hospital just a day ago
President Zeman was hospitalized with liver disease the day after the election. The 77-year-old was only released from the clinic on Thursday. The appointment of Fiala should originally have taken place on Friday – but on that day Zeman was hospitalized again, this time because of a corona infection. Zeman has been back home since Saturday.
The corona situation in the Czech Republic is dramatic. The Central Eastern European country currently has one of the highest infection rates in the world. A case with the newly discovered Omikron variant has also already been proven.
The outgoing government announced new restrictions on Thursday. Gastronomy businesses have to close from 10 p.m., Christmas markets have been canceled. From the point of view of observers, however, these measures are not sufficient. The hospitals in the east of the country are already at the limit of their capacity. From there, the first patients were transferred to other regions.