No Europe minister in emerging, budget-conscious Czech government

Jun 17, 2010, 16:06 GMT

Prague - The Czech Republic's emerging three-party, centre- right government would not include a European affairs minister, one of the negotiating parties said Thursday.

The position would be scrapped along with two other ministerial posts as part of spending cuts aimed at fixing the country's public finances, according to a statement about ongoing coalition talks issued by the Public Affairs party.

The three parties would instead form a national budgetary council, a new body whose duties would include reviewing the impact of draft legislation on public finances.

The nascent ruling coalition also plans to push through a constitutional law on budget discipline.

The prospective government, however, would need backing from at least two opposition lawmakers to pass the legislation, as constitutional laws require a majority of 120 votes in the 200-seat lower house of parliament.

The three-way coalition would control 118 seats. It would be made up of the centre-right Civic Democrats, the conservative TOP 09 and the populist Public Affairs.

The three parties have been in coalition talks since the May 28-29 election.

They have proposed implementing a series of austerity measures, such as cutting the money for public sector salaries - except for those of teachers - by one tenth and slashing the salaries of parliamentarians, top state bureaucrats and judges by 5 per cent.

The prospective coalition had also agreed earlier to introduce tuition fees of up to 10,000 koruny per semester (480 dollars) at state universities. The fees would be payable after graduation.

The three parties aim to seal their coalition deal by July 7, so they can draft their own 2011 budget, which would have a deficit of no more than 4.8 per cent of gross domestic product. In 2009, the deficit had reached 5.9 per cent.