Czech interim government appointed (Roundup)

May 8, 2009, 16:20 GMT

Prague - Czech President Vaclav Klaus Friday appointed Prime Minister Jan Fischer's caretaker cabinet 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 ruled from January 2007 until it was ousted in a parliamentary vote of no confidence on March 24, midway through the country's EU term, which ends June 30.

'It certainly won't be a government of visions, of revolutionary political proposals ... but it does not mean that it will be a government which will have an easy job,' Fischer said.

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. Some EU leaders would have preferred that Topolanek remain in his caretaker role through the end of the EU presidency.

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 awaits to hear from the Czech Republic whether the euro-sceptic president or the fresh technocrat premier will chair the EU's June summit in Brussels. That summit is set to work on reviving the EU's stalled reform Lisbon Treaty, which Klaus rejects.

The president, who was originally only assigned to chair the EU's summit with Russia, appears to have benefited from the cabinet switch, adding several meetings to his agenda.

He presided over a recent EU meeting with Japan and is to chair the bloc's summit with South Korea. Klaus also signaled that he would head a summit with China.

Fischer's government results from a deal between Topolanek's Civic Democrats, the Greens and the Social Democrats, who agreed to back the new administration in a parliamentary confidence vote. The cabinet has 30 days to request the vote in the lower house.

The government's main tasks include drafting a 2010 budget amid the global economic crisis and completing the Czech EU presidency, tarnished by the fall of Topolanek's cabinet.

Fischer will 'be up to the job to finish the Czech presidency in dignity,' said Alexandr Vondra, Topolanek's departing vice-premier for European affairs.

The head of EU's executive, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, vowed to help Fischer with the EU job.

'The coming months are a crucial time for the Czech Republic and for Europe. I want to wish Jan Fischer every success in his new role,' Barroso said in a statement.

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.

Sweden will take over the EU presidency from the Czech Republic on July 1.