Former Czech Health Minister Adam Vojtěch has been nominated as the country’s ambassador to Finland, pending approval from President Miloš Zeman. Vojtěch has previously expressed his wish to be more active in diplomacy rather than politics. Photo Credit: Freepik / Illustrative Photo.
Czech Rep., Feb 17 (BD) – The Czech government has nominated former Health Minister Adam Vojtěch as the country’s ambassador to Finland. The decision was supported by Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, who directly assigned Vojtěch to the embassy in Helsinki. In late January, Vojtěch said that he would be interested in working in diplomacy instead of politics: “Even before I left my ministerial post, I felt that politics was not the environment for me. But it was a life experience and we will see what happens next.” The Minister of Foreign Affairs Tomáš Petříček declined to comment on this decision. President Zeman’s approval is still required for the appointment, though he is not expected to oppose the decision.
34-year-old Vojtěch is a graduate of the Faculty of Law of Charles University in Prague and also studied media studies at the university’s Faculty of Social Sciences. After a year as a lawyer, he became Babiš’s secretary at the Ministry of Finance. In December 2017 he entered politics himself, and was appointed as Minister of Health. Vojtěch resigned in September 2020 due to his weak management of the pandemic, attracting criticism mainly over the management of hospitals and inefficient procurement of equipment.
Jan Lipavský, an MP for the Pirate Party, criticised the appointment on Twitter: “The unsuccessful Minister of Health Adam Vojtěch is not qualified to hold a diplomatic position. Over the past three years, I have not noticed any output from him in foreign policy. His work in Finland will be a mockery of all diplomats at the Czernin Palace.”
