Prague - Czech Defense Minister Alexandr Vondra from the ruling Civic Democratic Party (ODS) tendered his resignation today. He will quit his post on December 7.
The reason of Vondra's resignation is his failure to be reelected as Senator in the October elections, which reflected a drop in public support. Shortly after the election, Vondra lost the post of ODS deputy chairman at the party's conference.
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PM Necas thanked Vondra for his work as defense minister. "Minister Vondra was the most competent defense minister in the last 20 years," said Necas, who refused to hint at who will replace Vondra as minister.
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"I have a concrete idea, but I won't say the name yet," said Necas, adding that the following days may bring further personnel changes in his cabinet.
The minister's position has been significantly unstable since the emergence of the ProMoPro scandal this April, when police charged 12 people for suspicious public contracts worth CZK 525 million awarded during the Czech EU presidency in 2008. Alexandr Vondra, who was the deputy PM for European affairs at the time, was responsible for awarding the contracts.
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"People have been talking about his departure for some time. It is only a question of time," a member of the ODS leadership told Aktualne.cz some time ago.
The left-wing opposition has been calling for Vondra's resignation for a long time.
Vondra was the last of the "original" ODS ministers appointed to the cabinet of Prime Minister Petr Necas in July 2010, when it was sworn in. All the other ODS ministers have already been replaced.
Only five members of the original 15-member cabinet established in July 2010 are still in office. They are Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek (TOP 09), Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg (TOP 09), Health Minister Leos Heger (TOP 09), Regional Development Minister Kamil Jankovsky (originally Public Affairs, currently LIDEM) and Prime Minister Petr Necas (ODS).
