Christian Democrats threaten to walk out over screening law

The Christian Democrats have threatened to leave the government if their partners support a Communist party proposal to scrap the law preventing former communist agents from holding high posts in public service. Party leader Pavel Belobrádek said at a press briefing in Prague on Friday that all three Christian Democrat ministers would hand in their resignations if the proposal to scrap the security vetting law wins approval. The opposition Civic Democrats and TOP 09 are also against the law being scrapped, but the Social Democrats and ANO feel that almost a quarter of a century after the fall of communism the law should be replaced by standard civil service legislation.