Lipavsky to Remain Czech Foreign Minister After Pirate Party Quits Government

Jan Lipavsky is to remain the Czech minister of foreign affairs as an independent after he left the liberal Czech Pirate Party.

Lipavsky and Minister for Legislation Michal Salomoun resigned from the party on October 1 following an internal party vote in which nearly 80% of voters decided to leave the centre-right cabinet of Petr Fiala after Fiala dismissed the Pirate Party leader, Ivan Bartos.

“It will be an honour to continue in this work. Chairmen of four coalition parties backed me to continue,” Lipavsky told media following his talk with Fiala on October 2, adding that “I believe I will be able to continue working on Czechia being a reliable and pro-Western partner.”

Fiala also announced the legislation portfolio will be taken over by the Ministry of Justice, headed by the controversial Pavel Blazek, Fiala’s neoliberal ODS party colleague.

The foreign ministry under Lipavsky was credited for steering Czech diplomacy more clearly into the Western core after the previous cabinet of populist billionaire Andrej Babis openly flirted with Hungary’s radical rightwing leader Viktor Orban.

During Lipavsky’s tenure, Czechia also held the EU presidency in the second half of 2022 and profiled itself as a staunch backer of Ukraine. Along with Hungary, Czechia is also the only EU country backing uncritically the ultranationalist Israeli government of Benjamin Netanyahu.

The two countries voted against the United Nations General Assembly resolution on September 18 calling for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Palestinian-occupied territories within a year.

Lipavsky has also profiled himself as a rightwing Pirate after he reportedly said his party needs “to get rid of commies and ultra-lefties”, sparking criticism from his own ranks.

Staunch anti-communist rhetoric is repeatedly picked up by the Eurosceptic wing inside ODS, which includes anti-Green Deal politicians Alexander Vondra or Jan Skopecek, and who often employ it to accuse the European Commission and Brussels of being interventionist, much in the way Babis, his ANO party and other populist and far-right parties criticise the EU.

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