Czech Agriculture Minister Set to be Ousted as Food Prices Remain High

The long-criticized Czech Agriculture Minister Zdeněk Nekula is set to be dismissed from his post later on Wednesday after a less than satisfactory performance in recent months, which was not helped by rising food prices.

Government officials called an extraordinary press conference in the Chamber of Deputies for 2:30 p.m. where they are expected to announce that Nekula will be replaced by former KDU-ČSL party chairman, Marek Výborný.

The move has been in the pipeline for several weeks, according to sources cited by the Echo 24 news outlet. Nekula has faced public criticism, and members of his own party have expressed concern over what they consider to be insufficient efforts by the agriculture minister in lowering food prices.

Nekula sought to assert his position in a press conference on Tuesday in which he explained that food prices were 14.5 percent higher year-over-year in May, compared to almost 25 percent back in January.

He did concede, however, that this doesn’t tell the whole story, revealing that staple food items continue to rise at considerable speed.

“Some foods have even become more expensive compared to April,” he told the press, citing meat, dairy products, and vegetables as examples.

Other critics took issue with Nekula’s decision to instruct officials to conduct checks on food prices in grocery stores, despite officials from the Czech Trade Inspection (ČOI) and the State Agricultural and Food Inspection revealing on Tuesday that irregularities in price marking were found in 226 inspections out of 744 conducted.

“The most common cases involved incorrect billing of goods, i.e., cases where a certain price was indicated on the price tag and higher prices were charged at the cash register,” said Vlastimil Turza, head of the legal department of the ČOI.

Following Nekula’s expected dismissal, Labor Minister Marian Jureček will remain the only KDU-ČSL minister from the original line-up since the appointment of Prime Minister Petr Fiala’s government.

Last October, Anna Hubáčková (KDU-ČSL) was named the head of the Ministry of the Environment, but was replaced by Petr Hladík, the KDU-ČSL deputy chairman, this March.