The head of the Office of the Government, Tünde Bartha, presented a proposal to ministers at a cabinet meeting under which authorities should reduce the number of jobs by ten percent starting in January 2027. According to the news server Seznam Zprávy, which Prime Minister Andrej Babiš confirmed, the proposal was formally submitted by Babiš, but it was defended at the meeting by Bartha [1][2].*
Content of the proposal
The document obliges members of the government and heads of central bodies to reduce, by 1 January 2027, the number of jobs in the administrative authorities under their direction and subordinate to them by a total of ten percent [3]. The same requirement should also apply to other central bodies, such as the Czech Statistical Office, the Czech Telecommunication Office, the Office for the Protection of Competition, the Czech Mining Authority, or the Energy Regulatory Office [3]. Bartha distributed the draft resolution to ministers directly at the cabinet meeting; it had not been on the agenda [1][2].
Ministers' reactions
Ministers criticized the fact that they had not known about the proposal in advance, and objected to the short deadline for implementing it, as they would have roughly three months to carry out the cuts [3]. Finance Minister Alena Schillerová told the server Echo24: "We still need to determine exactly who this should apply to. But I support it, we'll sort out the technical details" [2]. Minister of the Environment Igor Červený (Motorists) said he had already cut jobs, while Minister of Education Robert Plaga (ANO) objected that none of the agendas handled by civil servants had been reduced [2][3]. Minister of Industry Karel Havlíček (ANO) said he had already reduced the number of positions by a tenth, adding: "I can imagine further reductions, but we need to go lower, that is, to organizations under the ministries" [2][3].
Suspension of the discussion and Babiš's position
The cabinet suspended discussion of the resolution, among other reasons because it was not clear which authorities and institutions would be affected by the layoffs [2][3]. In the Chamber of Deputies, Babiš denied that it was a matter of reckless cuts, saying that the government was getting rid of officials it did not need [1][2]. He told Seznam Zprávy: "Yes, we proposed this at the cabinet meeting, there was a lot of debate about it. Ministers received tables with supporting documents, they need to try harder, there is certainly room for it" [1][2].
Unions' reaction
Trade unions reject Bartha and Babiš's proposal to cut a tenth of positions in the civil service and have called it decimation [3]. According to the unions, an audit of the agendas should be carried out first, and only then should layoffs follow [3].