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President Klaus on Thursday will begin talks with the leaders of the Social Democratic Party (the biggest party in parliament), the Christian Democratic Party (the junior ruling coalition partner), and the senior opposition right-of-centre Civic Democrats. After a round of talks, Mr Klaus will most likely name acting Social Democrat leader Stanislav Gross prime minister-designate. A day before the talks, President Vaclav Klaus reiterated he would not appoint a government backed by the Communists. In an interview for the Czech daily Mlada Fronta Dnes he also said he believed it would not be possible to form a government from the three ruling coalition parties due to weak support in parliament. President Klaus is the former leader of the opposition Civic Democrats, who won most seats to the European Parliament and are pushing for early national parliamentary elections.

The leaders of the three parties in the coalition government, which is set to step down on Wednesday, have met to discuss further options regarding the current government crisis. Stanislav Gross, the acting head of the Social Democratic party, Pavel Nemec of the Freedom Union, and Miroslav Kalousek of the Christian Democrats, all expressed a willingness on Tuesday for further cooperation, though all conceded they would now have to wait for a decision by Czech President Vaclav Klaus. If he follows constitutional procedure, the president is expected to ask the leader of the largest faction in Parliament, Stanislav Gross, whose Social Democrats have 70 seats, to try and form a new government.

Besides discussing options on Tuesday all three party leaders rejected future cooperation with the Communist Party and praised out-going Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla.

Sixty-two year-old Karol Siddon has been dismissed as Prague's head rabbi by Prague's Jewish Municipal Council, following increased dissatisfaction over Mr Sidon's role in his post. Regarding the dismissal Municipal Council chairman Tomas Jelinek reportedly praised Mr Sidon's work in the 1990's, but criticised the rabbi for not meeting the demands of his office of late, including responsibilities pertaining to property administration. Mr Sidon told CT, the Czech News Agency, on Tuesday it was possible the Federation of Jewish Communities would strip him of the title of the country's chief rabbi, as well.

The Czech coalition government is serving its last hours in office, pending Wednesday's resignation of the entire Cabinet. The government fell on Saturday when Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla announced he was stepping down as head of government after he narrowly survived being ousted as party leader. Mr. Spidla, who served as Prime Minister for two years, found himself under increasing pressure after his party's poor showing in the recent elections to the European Parliament.