Discord in coalition government, one party leaves, accuses Prime Minister Fiala of "betrayal"

On the evening of September 24, the Chairman of the Pirate Party in the Czech Republic's coalition government, Mr. Ivan Bartos, announced that the party would end its participation in the ruling coalition.

Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala (left) and Pirate Party Chairman Ivan Bartos. (Source: CTK)

Czech Radio reported that the country's coalition government currently includes Prime Minister Petr Fiala's Civic Democratic Party (ODS), the Christian Democratic Union - Czechoslovak People's Party (KDU-CSL), the Traditional Responsibility for Prosperity Party (TOP 09), the Mayors and Independence Alliance (STAN) and Pirate.

The five-party coalition holds 109 seats in the 200-seat lower house of parliament. Meanwhile, the opposition ANO movement of former Prime Minister Andrej Babis holds 71 ​​seats and the Freedom and Direct Democracy party (SPD) holds 20 seats.

On September 23, the Pirate leadership, including Chairman Ivan Bartos, announced their resignation after the party failed in the September 20-21 local elections, winning only 3 local council seats, losing 96 seats compared to the election 4 years ago.

Mr. Bartos said he will not run for re-election, but will continue to lead Pirate until the party elects a new leadership in November.

On the morning of September 24, Mr. Bartos met with Prime Minister Fiala, then announced that nothing had changed in the coalition agreement and the Pirate Party would continue to participate in the Government.

However, on the afternoon of September 24, Prime Minister Fiala suddenly announced that he would propose to President Petr Pavel to remove Mr. Bartos from his position as Deputy Prime Minister in charge of digitalization and Minister of Regional Development, on the grounds that this official was unable to manage the digitalization program and did not realize the seriousness of the problem.

The Pirate Party described Prime Minister Fiala's decision as a "betrayal" and a violation of the coalition agreement, meaning the party is being expelled from the government.

Prime Minister Fiala and other leaders of KDU-CSL and TOP 9 in the ruling coalition stressed that no one is “expelling” Pirates and support continued cooperation.

He also expressed satisfaction with the work of two other Pirate ministers, Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky and Legislative Affairs Minister Michal Salomoun, and did not consider the decision to propose the dismissal of Mr. Bartos as the end of the coalition agreement.

The Pirate Party said it would hold talks with the leadership of STAN, its coalition partner in the 2021 general election, on September 25.

Mr. Bartos also accused ODS of making the decision under pressure and that the three-party alliance of ODS, KDU-CSL, TOP 09 was starting the path towards a coalition government with the opposition ANO movement.

Pirate Vice President Jakub Michalek affirmed that the party does not want to continue participating in the government and that ending the coalition is "just a technical matter".

President Petr Pavel, who is currently on a visit to the United States, said he would meet with Pirate President Ivan Bartos and leaders of other parties in the ruling coalition on September 30, after which he would take further action.

The Czech president stressed that it is important whether the change in government actually brings progress in digitalization.

According to the Czech Constitution, the president appoints and dismisses cabinet ministers at the request of the prime minister.

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/czech-xich-mich-trong-chinh-phu-lien-minh-mot-dang-ra-di-cao-buoc-thu-tuong-fiala-phan-boi-287573.html