Jiri Paroubek does not see early elections as threat to Czech EU presidency

Outgoing prime minister and Social Democratic chairman Jiri Paroubek thinks that holding early elections before January 2009 would not threaten the success of the Czech Republic's scheduled term at the helm of the European Union. The Czech Republic is due to hold the E.U. presidency from January to June 2009. During the past week, Mr. Paroubek has indicated that his Social Democrats would be willing to tolerate a Civic Democratic minority government for a limited time, and that early elections could be held in the autumn of 2008.