Social Democrats deny allegations they want Kalousek in new cabinet

The opposition Social Democrats have denied allegations that they want outgoing Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek to keep his post in the caretaker cabinet of Prime Minister Jan Fischer. The daily Právo wrote on Wednesday that calls for Mr. Kalousek to stay on and provide some degree of continuity were fueled by fears of how an inexperienced new cabinet would cope with the economic crisis. Petr Dimun who heads the opposition party’s PR department said the Social Democrats saw no reason for Mr. Kalousek to retain his post, particularly in view of the fact that the new cabinet was to be non-partisan. Mr. Dimun added that the opposition was not in the slightest bit concerned about how the new cabinet would perform, saying that the party had toppled the current government precisely because it was not coping well with the impacts of the global crisis.