CZECH REPUBLIC: CZECH GOVERNING COALITION LEADERS AGREE TO FORM A NEW MAJORITY-BACKED CABINET

Record ID: 647500

  • Title: CZECH REPUBLIC: CZECH GOVERNING COALITION LEADERS AGREE TO FORM A NEW MAJORITY-BACKED CABINET
  • Date: 13th April 2005
  • Summary: (W1) PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC (APRIL 13, 2005) (REUTERS) 1. GV: PRAGUE WITH VLTAVA RIVER AND BRIDGES AND CZECH GOVERNMENT BUILDING 0.03 2. EXTERIOR OF CZECH GOVERNMENT BUILDING 0.06 3. POSSIBLE NEW PRIME MINISTER JAN KOHOUT ENTERING THE BUILDING 0.11 4. CU: SIGN ON THE BUILDING 0.14 (W1) PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC (APRIL 13, 2005) (REUTERS) 5. VARIOUS: JOURNALISTS WAITING FOR THE MEETING RESULTS (5 SHOTS) 0.27 6. (SOUNDBITE) (Czech) CZECH PRIME MINISTER, CHAIRMAN OF SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY, STANISLAV GROSS, SAYING: "We prepared the fundamental points of an agreement on the co-operation of the three parties to create a majority pro-European, democratic government. Tomorrow Today I want to inform the president of the proposal. And next - the basic points of this agreement will be discussed with our party top leaders." 0.51 7. CU: CAMERAS 0.52 8. (SOUNDBITE) (Czech) CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATIC PARTY LEADER MIROSLAV KALOUSEK SAYING: "The basic points of our agreement are not only hope but make us sure, that the government will be fully functional and will be working until the end of the regular election period." 1.06 9. CU: CAMERAS 1.08 10. (SOUNDBITE) (Czech) LEADER OF FREEDOM UNION PAVEL NEMEC SAYING: "Our talks were maximally factual and correct from all the participating parties" 1.15 11. CU/TILT: CZECH PARLIAMENT SIGN AND BUILDING BY NIGHT (2 SHOTS) 1.22 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 28th April 2005 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
  • Reuters ID: LVA51J57QQ09130HQMCLQQ1DXBID
  • Story Text: Czech governing coalition leaders met overnight and
    agree on a set up of a new pro-european majority
    government.


    The three parties in the collapsed Czech government
    agreed on Thursday (April 14) to form a new majority-backed
    cabinet, ending months of political turmoil and paving the
    way for Prime Minister Stanislav Gross to step down.

    Analysts had earlier said that if a deal was reached,
    the new government would probably be weak and focus on
    ratifying the new EU constitution and on the 2006 budget,
    possibly leaving aside reforms of healthcare, pensions and
    taxation.

    The agreement, which must now be ratified by the
    leadership of each party, opens the way for Gross, tainted
    by a scandal surrounding his family finances, to be
    replaced, probably by his candidate of choice, European
    Union ambassador Jan Kohout.

    The deal has averted a possible early election. The new
    government is meant to see the country through to the next
    regular general election due in mid-2006.

    "We prepared the fundamental points of an agreement on
    the co-operation of the three parties to create a majority
    pro-European, democratic government," Gross told reporters
    after just over eight hours of talks into the early
    morning.

    "Today I want to inform the president of the proposal."
    Europe's youngest leader at 35 and a former locomotive
    technician, Gross said he expects the deal will be
    completed in a few days.

    The centrist Christian Democrats left the three-party
    government in a row over Gross's family finances, stripping
    the prime minister, who has denied any wrongdoing, of his
    majority in parliament.

    Gross's leftist Social Democrats and the rightist
    Freedom Union are the other two coalition parties.

    "The basic points of the agreement that we reached
    provide assurance that this will be an effectively
    functioning government until the end of the election
    period," added Christian Democrat leader Miroslav Kalousek.

    Without the deal, Gross would have faced a planned
    confidence vote in parliament that he would have been
    unlikely to survive without seeking help from the populist
    Communists - a move that could have split Gross's party and
    angered President Vaclav Klaus, who could block
    reconstruction of Gross's cabinet.

    Analysts said earlier this week that a deal similar to
    Thursday's would help calm recent turbulence but the new
    cabinet would probably be little more than a caretaker
    administration that would not embark on any major reforms.

    Gross had proposed a re-formed coalition with a limited
    programme based on the three parties' pro-EU orientation.


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