Deputy PM Čunek: Government should resign of state budget is rejected

Deputy Prime Minister and chairman of the Christian Democrats Jiří Čunek told Czech TV on Sunday that the government should resign if Parliament does not approve the state budget for 2009. Following a scandal with staged involving senior Civic Democrat politician Vlastimil Tlustý, the coalition of the Civic Democrats, Christian Democrats and the Greens can only rely on 97 out of 200 MPs in the lower house of the Czech Parliament. Four opposition Social Democrat MPs, who sided with the coalition earlier this year, said they would not support the state budget as it incorporated the government’s fiscal reforms. The Chamber of Deputies is expected to vote on the annual state budget in October.