Prague - Czech President Vaclav Klaus Friday appointed Prime
Minister Jan Fischer's caretaker cabinet that is to complete the
Czech Republic's six-month presidency of the European Union and lead
the country to October early polls.
Fischer's cabinet replaced the three-party centre-right government
of Mirek Topolanek, which had ruled since January 2007 until being
ousted in a parliamentary vote of no-confidence on March 24, mid-way
through the country's EU term ending June 30.
The Czech president, an outspoken EU critic, pushed for a quick
government changeover after the collapse of Topolanek's government,
in disregard of the country's EU obligations.
He rushed the new cabinet into office on Friday shortly after
Topolanek finished chairing his last EU summit in Prague.
'The uncertainty that had lasted for several weeks after the
previous government's fall ... is over,' Klaus told the ministers
after the ceremony.
But the appointment has not ended the uncertainty for the EU. The
27-member bloc is awaiting to hear from the Czech Republic whether
the euro-sceptic president or the fresh technocrat premier will
preside over the EU's June summit in Brussels that is planned to work
on reviving the EU's stalled reform Lisbon Treaty, which Klaus
rejects.
Fischer's cabinet results from a deal between Topolanek's Civic
Democrats, the Greens and the Social Democrats, who agreed to back it
in a parliamentary confidence vote.
The government's main tasks include drafting a 2010 budget amid
the global economic crisis and completing the EU term.
'(Fischer) would be up to the job to finish the Czech presidency
in dignity,' said Alexandr Vondra, vice-premier for European affairs
in Topolanek's cabinet.
Fischer's cabinet ministers are mostly seasoned bureaucrats. The
key foreign affairs posts are held by long-time diplomats.
Jan Kohout, a former ambassador to the EU, replaced Karel
Schwarzenberg at the helm of the Foreign Ministry, while the
country's NATO ambassador, Stefan Fuele, succeeded Alexandr Vondra in
overlooking the European portfolio.
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