What is a Meeting of the Government?

As a general rule, the government meets once a week at its regular meeting The government adopts decisions on the basis of written materials presented to it by a member of the government; in exceptional cases on the basis of oral information from a member of the government. Submission of materials to the agenda of the meeting and the procedure of the debate is specified in the Rules of Procedure of the Government.

The government meetings are chaired by the Prime Minister or, in his absence , by the First Deputy Prime Minister or another member of the government delegated by the Prime Minister.

What does the agenda of the government's meeting look like?

The agenda of the meeting of the government is determined by the Prime Minister. The agenda may be completed with oral information and a debate on urgent matters.

The agenda of the meeting of the government is structured into part A – European Agenda, B- To be considered in the course of debate, C To be considered without debate, D – Miscellanea and For information.

In the first part members of the government provide oral information on the EU affairs. The debate on particular materials, views, positions and such like is done in the framework of the Committee for EU.

In respect to the material included in the part B of the agenda of the Government meeting, the chairperson may grant the opening statement to the person presenting the material. In the opening statement the person presenting the material concisely characterizes the content of the material and justifies conclusions proposed in it. After replies given to enquiries, a debate is held on this item of the agenda. Thence the title of this part of the agenda has its origin. At the end of the debate the chairperson proposes conclusions of the discussion, including any changes to the presented draft government resolution. Apart from other materials, materials with disagreement are also debated in this part.

As to the materials included in the Part C of the meeting of the government, the person presenting the material usually does not present his/her opening statement and there is no debate on the material. The government adopts the resolution in the presented wording.

Materials for a government meeting which the presenter wishes to be included on the agenda of the next government meeting must be submitted by 2:00 p.m. on the seventh day prior to the government meeting. Only materials submitted to the electronic library of the Office of the Government "eKLEP" (only in czech) and sent to the Prime Minister in three signed copies may be included on the agenda of the government meeting. The presenter must state what part of the government meeting (A, B or C) the material should be included in. The Prime Minister decides on exceptions.

Who attends the government meeting?

The government meeting is attended by members of the government, persons stipulated in the Constitution of the Czech Republic, a constitutional act or another act, the President of the Czech Statistical Office, the Director of the Office of the Government, a representative of the Office of the President of the Republic, the government registrar and other persons designated by the Prime Minister. Government meetings may be also attended by a co-presenter of the material who is not a member of the government; in this respect he/she attends that part of the government meeting discussing the material concerned. The approval of the government is required for the attendance of other persons at a government meeting. These persons attend the government meeting only for the duration of the discussion about the item of the agenda for which they were invited.

What is the decision-making process of the government like?

Government meetings are private. Written minutes are drawn up of government meetings. These minutes state, in particular the title of the discussed item of the agenda of the government meeting, a concise description of the debate, conclusions of the discussion, including results of the vote, and if the government arrives at the conclusion that it will not adopt a resolution on a submitted material, this fact is stated in the minutes together with the conclusions. These minutes are published at www.vlada.cz in the section Government's Resolutions.

As a rule, a communiqué concerning government meetings is issued by the government spokesperson. A sound recording is made of government meetings. The rules for making, handling, archiving and making copies of such recordings are laid down in the Rules of Procedure of the Government.