Likely next PM Nečas: coalition talks should intensify after Civic Democrats congress this weekend

The man most likely to become the next Czech prime minister, Petr Nečas of the Civic Democrats, has paid a visit to Prague Castle to inform President Václav Klaus about how three-party coalition talks are progressing. Mr Nečas says those talks should move up a gear after a key congress of his party this weekend, and a new cabinet should be drawing up next year’s budget within a month’s time.

Petr Nečas, photo: CTK

The Civic Democrats and the new parties TOP 09 and Public Affairs have been in talks on forming a new centre-right government since soon after elections at the end of last month gave them 118 seats between them in the 200-seat Chamber of Deputies. The parties say they aim to sign an agreement by July 7.

On Friday morning, the Civic Democrats’ Petr Nečas visited President Václav Klaus, who had requested that he be kept abreast of developments. After that meeting, Mr Nečas was asked if the president hadn’t urged him to hurry up.

“We are in quite a hurry. After our party congress, the coalition will hold talks practically every day at the highest level, not only on the level of expert groups. The issue of a coalition agreement is a bit different from usual, as two of the parties involved are completely new. But though the degree of detail could be higher than usual, I don’t see any insurmountable problems.”

If Petr Nečas is perturbed by the president’s failure to date to appoint him prime minister designate, he wasn’t showing it on Friday. He was smiling broadly as he told reporters that he and Mr Klaus had discussed dates rather than names during their one-hour meeting.

Václav Klaus, Petr Nečas, photo: CTK

“We didn’t go into personnel questions, either with regard to the Chamber of Deputies or the government. As regards deadlines, we agreed that it’d be very important and very good that a new government would be actively working by the middle of July on creating a draft budget for 2011.”

This weekend Mr Nečas is standing unopposed for chairman of the Civic Democrats at a party congress. The 45-year-old will be hoping his allies also win key leadership posts; that would reinforce his position as he attempts to form the next Czech government.