Press Advisories

16. 4. 201014:53

Rut Bízková Becomes New Environment Minister

Rut Bízková was named as the head of the Ministry of the Environment today by the president, as proposed by the prime minister.

A ceremonial handover of the ministry and introduction to the functions of the new minister was later held at the Ministry of the Environment. It was attended by such people as Prime Minister Jan Fischer and Agriculture Minister Jakub Šebesta, who was named to lead the ministry after the departure of former minister Jan Dusík.

Rút Bízková has served until now as the deputy minister at the Ministry of the Environment. The minister said she will try to focus the ministry's activities on drawing down European Union funds, evaluating amendments to the Zelená úsporám [Green for Savings] programme, as well as making the ministry more open to businessmen, unions and non-governmental organisations.

The new environment minister intends to hold a press conference at the beginning of next week, where she will officially present her priorities for her leadership of the ministry.

Who is Rut Bízková?

Born 19 July 1957. Main author of the publication "Environment in the Czech Republic 1989-2004, analyses of the development of the industrial and energy sectors, especially in relation to environmental protection. After graduating from the Institute of Chemical Technology, Prague, she worked from 1981 at the Nuclear Research Institute in Řež in the radiopharmaceuticals and instrumental nuclear materials analyses methods departments. From 1986 to 1988 she graduated her postgraduate studies in mathematics, and in 1993 held a three-month internship at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, where she was primarily involved in nuclear security and limiting the negative influences of the nuclear industry on the environment. Since 1993 she has been professionally oriented toward the environment, especially in the area of the influence of the energy sector on the environment. From 1994 to 1996 she worked as the press spokeswoman for the coal power plants of ČEZ, a. s. Inside ČEZ, she helped to push for the massive desulphurisation of power plants to improve air quality in the Czech Republic and also communicated this topic to the public. She then served as the director of public affairs for the Ministry of the Environment. From 1999 she was the head of the department of international aspects of industrial policy at the Ministry of the Environment, where she was especially involved in the influence of industrial policy on the environment, and was also an advisor to the deputy minister of industry and trade for energy, mining and construction in this area. From 2004 she served at the CENIA agency, the Czech Environmental Information Agency, a contributory organisation of the Ministry of the Environment, last as its deputy director. She has been the deputy environment minister and director of the section for environmental economics and politics since 2006. She was named environment minister on 15 April 2010. Rut Bízková is married and has one child.