A change of government took place in the Czech Republic a good two months after the parliamentary elections.

President Miloš Zeman appointed Petr Fiala's cabinet on Friday, who succeeds Andrej Babiš as Prime Minister.

The list of ministers was accepted in the constellation proposed by the conservative-liberal coalition of five parties.

Up until the beginning of this week, Zeman had tried to influence this and prevent the pirate party politician Jan Lipavský from becoming foreign minister.

Because Fiala remained tough on the matter and the coalition remained closed, the president finally gave in on Monday evening.

On Friday he wished the new government success and continued progress.

Stephan Löwenstein

Political correspondent based in Vienna.

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The new head of government, Fiala, made it clear that work had to be done immediately and regardless of the upcoming holidays. "We are facing huge challenges," said the new Prime Minister and called the Covid pandemic, high energy prices and general inflation "and everything that goes with it". Lots of things in the country have been left behind recently, that doesn't make the start easy, said Fiala to the address of his predecessor. With his government he wants to approach the problems more systematically and more carefully than the Babiš government.

The previous Prime Minister Babiš had headed a minority government that was installed thanks to the strong assistance of the President.

It was also controversial because of economic conflicts of interest and corruption investigations as well as Stasi allegations, and there were mass protests across the country.

Nevertheless, the ANO, which he founded and was dependent on, remained the strongest single party in the parliamentary elections in October, with around 27 percent of the vote.

Five previous opposition parties joined forces in two electoral alliances, but won a new parliamentary majority.

Before the Czech EU Presidency

This majority comprises 108 of 200 parliamentary seats and consists of the Fiala-led ODS (Citizens Democrats), the KDU-ČSL (Christian Democrats) and the conservative TOP 09 as well as the STAN (Mayor's Party) and the left-wing liberal Pirate Party. The fact that the new cabinet was expanded to 18 ministers was not officially justified with the needs of a five-party coalition, but with the upcoming Czech EU Council Presidency in the second half of 2022. The posts for a European, a legislative and a science minister were created.

Because President Zeman is still in need of care, the government was sworn in at the presidential country estate Lány instead of the usual at Prague Castle. The coalition reached an agreement soon after the election, but because Zeman had to be isolated in the intensive care unit of the military hospital for weeks with an acute deterioration in his health, the inauguration was delayed.

After all, the president's will to power had shown itself again after his dismissal.

In the Babiš government he influenced several positions and successfully blocked a proposed foreign minister, among others.

However, Babiš depended heavily on the goodwill of the head of state because he did not have his own majority in parliament.

Fiala, on the other hand, announced that she would appeal to the Constitutional Court if Zeman insisted on Lipavský's rejection in order to clarify the powers of the president.

Speculation about meeting at Prague Castle

After a conversation between the two on Monday, Zeman then announced that he would appoint all the proposed ministers to avoid a crisis. Fiala praised this attitude. However, since then there has been speculation in the media about whether Fiala quietly made concessions elsewhere. Such assumptions are fed by the fact that Fiala, without the knowledge of his coalition partners, also met the “Chancellor” of the presidential chancellery, Vratislav Mynář, a controversial person. Among other things, there is speculation about the post of head of the secret service because Zeman's dislike of the incumbent is notorious. For the time being it was only known that police chief Jan Švejdar announced his imminent resignation after talks with the nominated Minister of the Interior Vít Rakušan (STAN).

As one of the first decisions, the new cabinet decided not to ask the House of Representatives to extend the Covid state of emergency.

Fiala announced this at a press conference.

This means that the associated restrictions can expire on Christmas Day.

This affects the opening times of restaurants and clubs or the previous closure of Christmas markets.