Lukas Vlcek, MP and first deputy chair of the Mayors and Independents (STAN), will succeed Jozef Sikela (STAN) as Minister of Industry and Trade, after the STAN leadership approved his nomination yesterday, announced STAN spokeswoman Sara Berankova in a press release.
If approved by the European Parliament, Sikela is likely to take up the international partnership portfolio at the European Commission (EC) from December.
Vlcek has long been considered the favourite to succeed Sikela, and STAN chairman Vit Rakusan has publicly expressed support for him. According to Rakusan, Vlcek is well acquainted with the ministry agenda thanks to his cooperation with Sikela. “Work at this important ministry will not stop for a moment,” Rakusan said. “The next steps will be taken in agreement with him and the president.”
Vlcek told reporters after the meeting that he wanted to focus on energy, negotiations with investors and the overall strategy of the ministry, which the government is due to approve in early October at the International Engineering Fair in Brno.
Prime Minister Petr Fiala (ODS) said he would meet with Vlcek in the coming days to discuss Vlcek’s priorities, as well as adjustments to some of the proposals promoted under the Green Deal.
Fiala said he respected STAN’s right to nominate a candidate for the position of industry and trade minister, and had already discussed Vlcek’s nomination with Rakusan. “I will meet Mr Vlcek in the coming days and discuss his priorities with him, so that we can adjust some of the unrealistic proposals promoted within the Green Deal that would affect our companies,” he told CTK.
STAN vice-chair Jan Lacina told journalists that Vlcek received 28 votes at the party’s national committee, while two members abstained and none voted against. The nomination was approved by the Mayors during a time of a government crisis linked to the dismissal of outgoing Pirate Party leader Ivan Bartos from his position as deputy prime minister and regional development minister.
Vlcek wants to focus on finalising the contract for the completion of the new nuclear units at Dukovany and the issue of gas imports. In the last year of the government’s mandate, he does not want to take the ministry as an opportunity to finish something. “My visions are much more varied and overlap into the next term,” Vlcek told reporters today.
He mentioned the modernisation of transmission and distribution systems, measures to promote entrepreneurship, and changes to building standards to speed up housing construction.
He also wants to focus on negotiations with investors, including Taiwanese chipmakers.
The hearings with the candidates for European Commissioners in the individual committees of the European Parliament are expected to take place on 4-12 November.
If MEPs do not reject any of the nominees, the new commission could be approved at the subsequent plenary session, which starts on 25 November. It could then be operational from 1 December. “We have no doubt that Jozef Sikela will pass the EU grilling. The change of ministers may come before the grilling,” said Lacina. However, he stressed that the timing was a matter for the president and the prime minister.
42-year-old Vlcek has been a member of parliament since October 2021, before which he was the long-time mayor of Pacov in South Bohemia. In the Chamber of Deputies, he is a member of the budget and environment committees, and is also vice-chair of the subcommittee on technical environmental protection and chair of the standing committee on hybrid threats.
