Paroubek maintains post of human rights minister should be abolished

The head of the opposition Social Democrats, Jiří Paroubek, has maintained that he thinks the post of human rights and minorities minister should be abolished in the interim government of Jan Fischer, which is set to take office on May 9. On Monday, Mr Paroubek said that the ministry was currently completely without a concept, and that, first of all, the ministry should be clearly defined, and only then should someone be appointed to fill the post. Mr Paroubek’s views on the ministry have come under fire from the deputy head of his own party, Lubomir Zaorálek, and outgoing Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs Alexandr Vondra, who both said on Sunday that it should be re-evaluated whether to abolish the post or not. Jan Fischer’s interim government will be made up of experts nominated both by the opposition Social Democrats and the outgoing government coalition.