Update: 2/05/2024 16:43
Issued by: 05/02/2024, 16:12
Prague – President Petr Pavel today accepted the resignation of the Minister for Science, Research and Innovation Helena Langšádlová (TOP 09). The resignation is dated Sunday, May 5. The communication department of the Office of the President of the Republic reported on this on the website. Today, Prime Minister Petr Fiala (ODS) also sent a proposal to the Castle for the appointment of a new minister, namely the economist and former rector of the University of Silesia, Pavel Tuleja. Pavel appoints him a member of the government on Monday. The spokesman for the president, Vojtěch Šeliga, told ČTK earlier that a meeting with Tuleja before his appointment was not necessary, as they both know each other personally.
Langšádlová ended her position as a minister due to the dissatisfaction of her parent party with the presentation of results in her department to the public. Her successor Tuleja met today with Fiala, with whom he discussed his priorities. These include the completion of the Act on Science, Research and Innovation and the Transfer of Knowledge, or assistance with the completion of the Act on Universities in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, Tuleja told ČTK today.
At the same time, Fiala heard Tulej’s arguments in the case of publishing scientific articles and accepted his public apology at today’s meeting, according to a statement to ČTK. Today, the candidate for minister asked the University of Silesia in Opava to remove from his publication list articles that were published in journals included in the list of so-called potentially predatory journals. According to him, the texts come from 2015. In retrospect, he feels that he should have checked the quality of the publishing house where the articles were published more.
Among other things, Tuleja said this week that he intends to try to increase the budget for science as a whole, so that the share of these expenses in the gross domestic product increases. According to him, money for science and research must flow through multiple channels so that it is not dependent on a single source. He also talked about it with Langšádlová and her deputies.
