Foreign minister: row over ambassadors likely to continue

A row between himself and the president over the naming of new ambassadors could continue for some time yet the country's foreign minister, Karel Schwarzenberg, has said. Speaking on a TV debate programme on Sunday, Mr Schwarzenberg revealed he had asked current ambassadors ending their tenure to remain in their posts. Questions over who will serve as ambassadors to Bratislava and Moscow, for example, remain unresolved. It is up to the foreign minister to nominate candidates and up to the president to approve them, but President Zeman and Mr Schwarzenberg, who faced each other as candidates in the second round of this year's presidential election, have not found common ground. The foreign minister has charged the president has ignored his constitutional duty.

Author: Jan Velinger