Czech Cabinet May Take Power Within Three Weeks as Virus Spreads

(Bloomberg) -- The Czech Republic’s new government may be appointed within three weeks as the country needs immediate steps to tackle the coronavirus pandemic, according to the candidate for prime minister.

Petr Fiala, the leader of the center-right Civic Democrats, said he should be appointed the premier-designate on Nov. 26. He presented a list of proposed cabinet members to President Milos Zeman, who names the government, during their meeting Wednesday in a Prague hospital, where the head of state has been staying for more than a month with unspecified health problems.

New cases of coronavirus have almost doubled in the past week to a record, and hospitalizations are climbing. The outgoing government is meeting Thursday to debate how to stem the spread. 

The Civic Democrats signed a coalition deal with four other parties after the group won a combined parliamentary majority in October elections and pledged to oust billionaire Prime Minister Andrej Babis.

Fiala’s proposal for finance minister is his party’s Deputy Chairman Zbynek Stanjura, a member of the lower house of parliament since 2010 and a former transport minister. Stanjura had a seat on the chamber’s budget committee during the term of the previous government, and he was a fierce critic of the outgoing premier’s spending policies and budget deficits.

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