Christian Democrats ratify agreement on new government

Meanwhile, the national committee of the second largest coalition party, the Christian Democrats, has approved the original agreement of the three parties and even nominated their candidates for the vacated ministerial posts. Party chairman Miroslav Kalousek has called on the Social Democrats to approve the original deal.

Thursday's events mark another turn in a drawn-our crisis in the Czech government coalition which started two months ago after the Christian Democrats called on Prime Minister Stanislav Gross to step down over the controversy surrounding the financing of his Prague flat and his wife's business dealings.

Stanislav Gross held the post of Czech prime minister for less than a year. He took over from Vladimir Spidla, who resigned last June after government parties - including his Social Democrats - were routed in the European Parliament elections. Mr Gross also replaced Mr Spidla as chairman of the Social Democrats. While known as a negotiator rather than a visionary, the European Union's youngest prime minister and former railway worker failed in weeks of talks to win enough backing from his political colleagues to continue amid a scandal over his family's finances.