Civic Democrat leader calls for agreement on fully functioning caretaker government

Civic Democrat leader Mirek Topolánek called Thursday for all parties, apart from the Communists, to thrash out a new programme for the caretaker government of Prime Minister Jan Fischer. The former prime minister added in a press conference that it should be a fully functioning government and set out six target areas for action. These include setting a budget for 2011 and sweeping in changes that would allow the country to better draw on European funds. He added that the European Affairs Ministry could be merged with the Foreign Ministry. Mr Topolánek said that his party was not asking for specific personnel changes within the government or making other demands as a condition for its support. Last week the party demanded the replacement of Social Democrat nominated Minister of the Interior, Martin Pecina, saying he had overstepped his powers and was running the ministry badly. Party leaders should meet on Friday to discuss the government programme until new elections in the middle of next year.