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All thirteen deputies of the Christian Democratic Party have pledged not to support a Social Democrat government which would lean on the Communists for support. The pledge was made in writing at the initiative of the party leadership after two deputies indicated that they would not be averse to discussing such a possibility. Czech Social Democrat leader Jiri Paroubek said on Thursday he could break the country's political deadlock within a fortnight if he was given the chance to form a government. Although he did not explicitly say so, such a government would have to rely on the Communist Party for support. The Christian Democratic Party leadership is now trying to dismiss speculation that some of its deputies might break ranks and enable such a government to rule. The Greens have said they would not support such a government under any circumstances.

Czech Interior Minister Ivan Langer, who sharply criticized a year long delay in the expansion of the Schengen border-free zone at a meeting of EU interior ministers on Thursday, has said the Czech Republic would continue to push for the original date to be kept. The delay is allegedly caused by technical difficulties in setting up a new police data base for the expanded region. Mr. Langer said the Czech Republic supports a Portuguese proposal to upgrade the existing police data-base for the time being while simultaneously working on the new one. He said this would be worthwhile despite the fact that it would incur additional costs, because the delay itself would be very costly for the newcomer states. For instance 600 border policemen would have to be kept at the border instead of being moved elsewhere. A final decision is to be made in December.

The Communist Party has said it should now be the Social Democrats' turn to try and put together a new cabinet after the minority Civic Democrat government of Mirek Topolanek failed to get confidence from the lower house this week. Under the Czech constitution President Vaclav Klaus is obliged to appoint a new prime minister after the current government resigns but he said through a spokesman that he will not do that until after the local and Senate elections due in a few weeks' time are over. The Social Democrats came second in the June general election, trailing after the right-of-centre Civic Democats.

One of the country's most influential and controversial businessmen did not report to Prague's Pankrac prison on Thursday to serve a five-year sentence, citing serious health reasons. His medical report will now be examined by the prison authority. The 35-year old Tomas Pitr, considered to be one the wealthiest Czech businessmen, was found guilty of large-scale tax fraud earlier this year.