Former Sev.en manager Dlask becomes Czech Industry Ministry deputy, to oversee energy

Marcel Dlask, a former long-serving manager of billionaire Pavel Tykač’s energy group Sev.en, has become a new deputy to Industry Minister Karel Havlíček (ANO). He is expected to be responsible for energy at the ministry. This follows from the organisational structure of the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MPO). Jan Sechter of the Motorists party, from the Czech Chamber of Commerce, has also become a new deputy at the MPO.

Dlask is expected to represent the coalition SPD party at the ministry, for which he served as an MP during the previous electoral term. From 2017 to 2024, Dlask was chief operating officer of Chvaletice Power Plant, which belongs to the Sev.en group. From last April until this October, he was an MP for the SPD, for which he also ran in the October parliamentary elections. However, he failed to retain his seat.

Havlíček confirmed as early as December that he was discussing the deputy ministerial post with Dlask. According to him, energy needs to be strengthened at the ministry. “We would welcome someone from the energy sector,” the minister added.

Alongside Dlask, Sechter has also become a new deputy minister. He previously served as Havlíček’s deputy when Havlíček headed the Transport Ministry. Sechter is also a former ambassador to Poland and Austria.

Before Havlíček was appointed industry minister, the deputy ministers at the MPO were Martin Frélich, Jan Kavalírek and Štěpán Hofman. One vacant deputy ministerial post at the MPO remains unfilled.

Tykač’s energy group Sev.en operates, among other assets, coal-fired power plants and coal mining operations in Czechia, and is active in other energy fields, steelmaking, petrochemicals and other industrial sectors, both in the Czech Republic and abroad. At the end of November, the group announced plans to close its Chvaletice and Počerady coal-fired power plants, as well as its Kladno power and heat plant, within a year.