Czech interim environment minister Petr Macinka has said that ideology must be broken and the ministry’s climate protection department will be closed, writes Politico.
Macinka promised before the parliamentary elections that “green blood will be shed,” and upon taking office on the 15th of December, he declared that “the climate crisis ends today.” On the evening of the 16th of December, Macinka wrote on Facebook that the environmental department would no longer be included in the new personnel structure of the environment ministry.
Macinka is the leader of the right-wing party Motorists for Themselves and the party is one of three that make up the coalition led by Andrej Babiš. Macinka will take over the post of environment minister on an interim basis, as the party’s original ministerial candidate, Filip Turek, has been hospitalized due to a herniated disc. However, Turek still has a meeting with Czech President Petr Pavel to become a minister.
The potential minister has faced criticism for racist, homophobic and extremist posts published on social media.
The coalition led by Babiš is made up of his party ANO, the Eurosceptic motorists, and the far-right Freedom and Direct Democracy party. Under the new prime minister, the Czech Republic has already managed to join forces with Slovakia and Hungary in rejecting aid to Ukraine, and, like its allies in Bratislava and Budapest, the Czech government now opposes the European Union’s climate goals.
Macinka will head the Environment Ministry until Pavel confirms Turek or another candidate. He is also the new Czech foreign minister and accompanied Babiš to the European Council meeting in Brussels on the 17th of December. There, he also attended a meeting of the far-right party group.
Former Environment Minister Petr Hladík has described his successor’s actions as populism driven by fossil fuel ideology. Hladík told Czech media that if experts were to be ousted from the ministry, he had no idea who would represent the Czech Republic on the international stage and in European discussions, and who would make recommendations on issues where expert opinion was needed.
Read also: Right-wing takeover in Czech Republic signals less support for Ukraine
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