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Non-partisan technocrat to head the new Czech government; Topolanek, Vondra, Schwarzenberg out
Czech social democrats leader Jiri Paroubek (R) speaks and Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek (2nd L) listens during the debate before a vote of no-confidence in the Czech centre-right government of Mirek Topolanek at the extraordinary session of The Czech Chamber of Deputies in Prague, Czech Republic, on 04 December 2007 Following the April 4 evening negotiations in the Czech Republic between the three outgoing governing parties (Civic Democrats, Greens and Christian Democrats) and the biggest opposition party, former Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek made an announcement on the formation of a new technocratic government headed by the president of the Czech Statistical Office (CSO) Jan Fischer. The new cabinet is expected to take office by May 9 and to lead the country until the early elections taking place on October 9-10 of this year. The agreement between the members of the political coalition and opposition parties still needs to be approved by the four parties’ members and by President Vaclav Klaus.
"We want this news to give reassurance to the public that we will have a stable government until an early election," said Topolanek after the talks with the other political parties.
Jan Fischer, 58 years old, economist and mathematician, became a deputy of the CSO in 1993 and has also headed teams that were in charge of local council and parliamentary elections. He is a member of the Czech Statistical Society and International Statistical Institute and was appointed as CSO head by president Vaclav Klaus in 2003.
"It is only a preliminary deal but I am ready to take it," claimed Jan Fischer.
As the Social Democrat chief Jiri Paroubek pointed out, ‘none of the outgoing ministers would keep their posts.’ This means that the new government will not feature the three leading figures in the Czech’s EU presidency – outgoing Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, Deputy PM for European Affairs Alexander Vondra, or Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg. The Green Party said it fought ‘like lions’ to keep Schwarzenberg, an independent, in the office, but his retention was ruled out by the opposition Social Democrats.
Concerning the future tasks of the new government, no mention was made in the official announcement of the Treaty of Lisbon, which the Czech Republic has yet to ratify.
"This cabinet of technocrats will not have any special tasks," Topolanek said. "Its main tasks will be to finish the Czech EU Presidency, prepare the 2010 budget and to take steps related to common administration."
The centre-right government of former PM Topolanek lost a parliamentary no-confidence vote on March 24, when four rebel members of governing parties voted with the Social Democrats and the Communists against the government. The Czech government's collapse comes after the failures of three other European governments in Latvia, Hungary and Iceland.
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People Topolanek, Mirek Schwarzenberg, Karel Vondra, Alexandr Paroubek , Jiri |
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