Confusion over selection of Czech nominee for Euro commissioner’s post

Confusion surrounds the selection of the Czech Republic’s nominee for a place on the next European Commission. On Sunday the caretaker prime minister, Jan Fischer, said that the governor of the Czech National Bank, Zdeněk Tůma, was the choice of the government and the country’s two biggest parties, the Social Democrats and the Civic Democrats. Mr Fischer said he had told them last Monday that Mr Tůma would be his choice – if they themselves could not agree on a joint candidate. But the leader of the Civic Democrats, Mirek Topolánek, said the party would not back the central bank head for the commissioner’s post. Mr Topolánek and Social Democrats chairman Jiří Paroubek are set for talks with the prime minister on Sunday evening.

The Civic Democrats and Social Democrats had evidently agreed that Mr Fischer himself should be the Czech candidate. However, the prime minister rejected that possibility, saying he would continue to lead the government until elections next year. Mr Topolánek then accused Mr Fischer of making a complete u-turn, after previously showing interest in the job.