Civic Democrats slam rival Social Democrats over failure to agree on candidate for EU commissioner

The right of centre Civic Democrats have hit out at the Social Democrats’ refusal to back their choice as the Czech Republic’s European commissioner, Alexandr Vondra. Civic Democrats’ leader Mirek Topolánek said it would make sense for the two biggest parties to agree on a candidate. Otherwise, he said, whoever wins elections next spring might seek to replace the Czech commissioner. The Social Democrats are putting forward Vladimír Špidla, who is currently the commissioner for social affairs. Originally EU states were due to put forward their choices at a summit in Brussels next week. However, the fact the Czech Republic has yet not ratified the Lisbon treaty means the matter has been postponed until a later EU meeting.