Czech Republic: New Human Rights Minister Chvojka officially takes office

The Czech Government has two new members: Czech President Miloš Zeman has appointed Jan Chvojka to the post of Human Rights Minister and Miloslav Ludvík to the post of Health Minister. They have replaced outgoing cabinet members Jiří Dienstbier and Svatopluk Němeček, respectively.

Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka, who is promising greater dynamism as a result of the cabinet reshuffle, said he has tasked Chvojka with addressing the situation in the country's so-called excluded localities. Chvojka should focus mainly on increasing the employment rate of ghetto residents before next year's elections.

Sobotka anticipates that the new minister, together with Czech Labor and Social Affairs Minister Marksová, will design a plan for increasing employment in those localities as rapidly as possible. The other tasks that should be completed before the next elections are adoption of the law on social enterprises, on social housing, and completion of the purchase of the pig farm located on the Romani Holocaust site at Lety.