Feuding coalition parties announce temporary ceasefire

The feuding parties in the government crisis have unexpectedly announced a temporary ceasefire. Two weeks ago the Christian Democrats called on the Prime Minister Stanislav Gross to step down over his domestic financial affairs and he in return threatened to ask the President to sack the three Christian Democrat ministers in the government. After going right to the brink, the Christian Democrats and Mr Gross's Social Democrats have reached an agreement that should put the crisis on hold. Pavla Horakova has been following developments. Pavla, what did the two parties agree on?

Prime Minister Stanislav Gross and the Christian Democrat leader Miroslav Kalousek, photo: CTK

Well, after a short meeting on Thursday the parties announced the governing coalition will continue in its three-party form. The Christian Democrat leader Miroslav Kalousek said his party no longer insisted on the resignation of Prime Minister Stanislav Gross and would refrain from any such calls until the Social Democrats' party congress at Easter. At that party congress, Mr Gross, who is the acting head of the party, will seek election as party leader. So, Mr Kalousek said it was up to the Social Democrats themselves to solve the problems caused by Mr Gross's financial affair. In return the Social Democrats dropped their calls on the Christian Democrat ministers to leave the cabinet.

The Prime Minister made the first step to reconciliation on Thursday when he apologised for some of his recent statements...

Yes, before the coalition meeting Mr Gross told journalists that he apologised to all who could have been offended by some of his errors of judgment and ill-advised statements in connection with the row over the way he financed his apartment. He also said he was prepared to repeat his apology officially. Nevertheless, he maintained that neither he nor his wife Sarka had ever broken the law as far as their private finances were concerned.

The Social Democrat party congress in three weeks' time seems to be a decisive moment for the ruling coalition but the Social Democrats will hold another important meeting this Saturday...

Miroslav Kalousek, photo: CTK

Yes, the broader Social Democratic leadership will be meeting on Saturday, and Mr Gross is expected to present the next steps that he is planning and also to ask the party leadership to confirm their confidence in him, in a secret ballot. Although he has some opponents among the two hundred or so top party members, he is counting on their support on Saturday.

And what is the atmosphere in the Social Democrat party ahead of Saturday's vote?

Several high-ranking Social Democrats told the media that they saw the temporary agreement as a big concession to the Christian Democrats. They said that Mr Gross should be equally hard on the Christian Democrats and demand an apology from Mr Kalousek. As far as the confidence vote is concerned, the prevalent mood is that a lot will depend on what further strategy Mr Gross will come up with. A number of top Social Democrats said the crisis will start anew if Mr Gross is elected party chairman at the Easter congress and therefore it would perhaps not be wise to stay in this coalition. They are calling for a speedy resolution of the crisis that has paralysed the government for a month and early elections still remain an option.