Czech President Names Finance Minister to End Government Crisis
Czech President Set to Name Finance Chief to End Cabinet Crisis
(Bloomberg) -- Czech President Milos Zeman appointed a new finance minister on Wednesday, ending a month-long government crisis that escalated the conflict between the two main rivals for October’s general elections.
Zeman formally dismissed billionaire Finance Minister Andrej Babis and named Ivan Pilny, a former corporate executive and now a lawmaker for Babis’s ANO party, as his replacement at a ceremony in Prague.
Ivan Pilny, right, and Bohuslav Sobotka on May 24.
Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka sought Babis’s removal, accusing him of past tax evasion. The second-richest Czech has repeatedly rejected these allegations. The two have been at odds for months, with their animosity escalating at a time when Sobotka’s Social Democrats are trailing ANO by a wide margin in opinion polls. The three-party coalition will remain in power after the reshuffle at the Finance Ministry.
To contact the reporters on this story: Peter Laca in Prague at placa@bloomberg.net, Krystof Chamonikolas in Prague at kchamonikola@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: James M. Gomez at jagomez@bloomberg.net, Andrea Dudik, Andrew Langley