The Czech Cabinet on Wednesday cleared plans to create a State Secretary for EU Affairs in spite of opposition from Foreign Minister and leader of the TOP 09 party Karel Schwarzenberg.
The creation of the new post, which should coordinate the Czech stance on all issues affecting the EU, has been a battleground between Civic Democrat (ODS) Prime Minister Petr Nečas and Schwarzenberg for over a year. The Foreign Ministry fears it will lose some of its powers due to the new post and could be sidelined on key policy discussions.
The Foreign Ministry fears it will lose some of its powers due to the new post and could be sidelined on key policy discussions.
TOP 09 reacted to the decision Wednesday by describing it as a flagrant abuse of the coalition agreement between the government parties and described the new office as another bureaucratic juggernaut parallel to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The government offices, primarily serving the prime minister and Cabinet, already began officially trying to coordinate government policy on the EU in a move which was welcomed by staff of foreign embassies in Prague. One top European embassy official told Czech Position that it was much easier to get a quick and complete reply from the government offices than wait for the Czech stance from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The creation of the new post was raised in the Cabinet last week when TOP 09 ministers were boycotting the meeting in protest at the disrespectful comments about Schwarzenberg from a controversial official at the Ministry of Education, Public Affairs (VV) nominee Ladislav Bátora. During the protest, now ended, the party only sent junior ministers to the Cabinet meeting.
The new state secretary should be Vojtěch Belling who currently heads the section for European affairs at the government offices.
