Bartha demands 10% staff cuts across Czech government ministries

At last week's Czech cabinet meeting, government office head Tünde Bartha — a close ally of Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) — unexpectedly handed ministers a document demanding that they cut staff by 10% by 1 January 2027 in their own ministries and all subordinate bodies. The proposal wasn't on the agenda circulated in advance, and most ministers only learned of it at the meeting itself.

A document no one saw coming

The staff-cut item wasn't included in the meeting agenda that cabinet members normally receive in advance to prepare. According to the draft resolution, the 10% staff cut would affect not only ministries but also the heads of other central bodies — the cadastral, statistical, telecommunications, antitrust, mining and energy regulatory offices.

The document formally lists Prime Minister Andrej Babiš as the proposal's author, but it was Tünde Bartha who defended the idea during the meeting's discussion. She said a 10% cut “can't be a big problem.”

Ministers push back

According to available information, several ministers this time pushed back surprisingly loudly. They were angered that they hadn't been told about such a drastic step in advance, and that they were given only three months to carry it out. In the end, Babiš and Bartha had to postpone the matter until the next cabinet meeting.

“Yes, we proposed this at the cabinet meeting, and there was a lengthy discussion about it. Ministers received spreadsheets with the figures — they need to try harder, there's definitely room to cut,” Prime Minister Babiš explained, defending his push for a quick staff reduction.

Several cabinet members spoke out openly against the plan. Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Alena Schillerová was angered by the tight deadline; Environment Minister Igor Červený of the Motoristé party objected that his ministry's staff had already been cut; and Education Minister Robert Plaga pointed out that none of the functions performed by officials had been reduced, and demanded an analysis of the consequences.

Schillerová made no secret of her surprise at not being told about such an important decision in advance, despite being one of the cabinet's key figures as deputy prime minister and finance minister. “I'm certainly in favour of savings, but we still need to discuss this — the deadline of 1 January is quite tight. We also need to determine exactly who it should affect. But overall I support it; we'll work it out technically,” the minister said.

Who the cuts could affect

Under the text of the resolution, the government requires ministers and heads of other central bodies to reduce the total number of jobs in the offices and agencies under them by 10% by 1 January 2027. If the cuts extend to bodies under the Finance Ministry, Schillerová would have to trim staff at the tax and customs authorities, the Office for Government Representation in Property Affairs, the State Printing Works of Securities, and the Financial Analytical Office.

The item was also postponed because it still isn't entirely clear which bodies and organizations the cuts would actually cover. Industry and Trade Minister Karel Havlíček noted that his ministry had already cut its headcount by a tenth during the government's first year in office.

“I'm quite open to further cuts, but we need to go further down — to the organizations under the ministries,” Havlíček said. He pointed out that he hasn't been sitting idle: he has already merged the CzechTrade and CzechInvest agencies into a single CzechBusiness structure, folded in CzechTourism from the Regional Development Ministry, and combined six different testing institutes into one National Testing Institute.

A dispute about more than percentages

Part of the ministers' resistance has a lot to do with Tünde Bartha herself, who championed the cuts. Not everyone in the ANO, SPD and Motoristé coalition is happy that the head of the government office behaves less like an official ensuring the cabinet runs smoothly and more like an independent political figure in her own right — apparently with Prime Minister Babiš's clear blessing.

Back in the spring, Bartha surprised everyone with a sweeping reorganization of the government office: under the banner of efficiency, she handed responsibility for human rights, gender equality, people with disabilities, the Roma minority, mental health and NGO relations to four different ministries. That reform, too, was prepared in a rush — government office staff even went on strike over it, and the item on transferring these responsibilities likewise wasn't originally on the meeting agenda.

Bartha has also recently turned her attention to the experts who work with the government office on councils, commissions and committees, intending to tighten how they are selected. Earlier still, she presented a draft of new rules for cabinet meetings that could limit the submission of comments on documents, strengthen the prime minister's sole authority over decisions, and end the publication of how individual ministers vote.

Around Prague, based on reporting by seznamzpravy.cz