Civic Democrat offer presence in government to Social Democrats

The centre-right coalition of the Civic Democratic Party, the Christian Democrats, and the Greens has offered to the Social Democrats to become members of the coalition cabinet, Civic Democrat leader Mirek Topolanek told journalists on Monday. The coalition also said that on Friday, it was ready to support the election of a Social Democrat as the speaker of the lower house of parliament. In response to the offer, the outgoing Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek said that he believed a coalition of his Social Democrats with the three parties was unlikely but he said a party leadership meeting would discuss the matter on Tuesday. The next round of talks about the creation of a new government is scheduled for Wednesday.