Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala (ODS) has been paid about CZK 1 million since October 2021, when he became Prime Minister, for the part-time job he retains at Brno’s Masaryk University, as reported by the Page Not Found server today.
The server referred to information from the university management.
Until December 2021, when the current government was sworn in by President Milos Zeman, Fiala had a full job of 40-hours a week at the university. After the appointment, he reduced it to eight hours a week.
Government spokeswoman Lucie Michut Jesatkova told the server that Fiala was a lecturer at the university “until recently”, but is now primarily focused on doctoral students and conceptual issues related to the development of the Department of International Relations and European Studies at the Faculty of Social Studies (FSS).
“He manages his university duties, often in the evenings and weekends,” the government spokeswoman said. She did not say when Fiala had stopped lecturing.
The FSS Vice-Dean for communication, Veronika Velicka Zapletalova, also said Fiala was a supervisor of doctoral students. He is also a member of the scientific councils of the Faculty of Social Studies and the Masaryk University and develops publishing activities, she added. “His working hours at our workplace correspond to these activities.”
Fiala was one of the founders of the Faculty of Social Studies in Brno, and in 2004 he was briefly its dean before becoming the rector of Masaryk University from 2004 to 2011.
Daily Mlada fronta Dnes reported in 2022 that Fiala, Health Minister Vlastimil Valek and then Minister for European Affairs Mikulas Bek would retain their university positions. “He likes academia and he likes to be in contact with students, but it is clear that more regular teaching is not compatible with the position he has,” said government spokesman Vaclav Smolka at the time.
