Czech interim government appointed (1st Lead)

May 8, 2009, 15:08 GMT

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.