The Czech government is facing turbulent times after Foreign Minister Tomáš Petříček was fired on Monday and Health Minister Jan Blatný was replaced by Petr Arenberger just last week.
Although Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Jan Hamáček, who proposed Petříček’s removal, has not yet provided an explanation for the move, the two ex-ministers were strictly against the use of Russian vaccine Sputnik V without approval from the European Medicines Agency (EMA), a stance for which they were criticised by President Miloš Zeman.
While the health minister was quickly replaced, the foreign minister position has not yet been filled. Although current Culture Minister Lubomír Zaorálek, who previously served as foreign minister from 2014 to 2017, was proposed to again take on the reins of the foreign ministry, he said on Tuesday that he is not willing, for the time being, to change position because the foreign ministry had been “gutted”.