Parties very close to coalition agreement

The leaders of the Social Democrats, the Christian Democrats and the Freedom Union have said they are extremely close to reaching a coalition agreement, one day after Social Democrat Stanislav Gross was named prime minister. The three parties have committed themselves to supporting families with children, education and faster economic growth.

Talks on the composition of the new cabinet are expected to continue until at least the weekend; though Mr Gross had earlier said some ministers would remain in their posts, Freedom Union chairman Pavel Nemec told reporters on Tuesday it had not even been decided which parties would get which ministries.

All three parties were in the previous coalition led by Vladimir Spidla, who stepped down a month ago after the Social Democrats did badly in elections to the European Parliament.