Talks on minority Civic Democrat government collapse

Talks on the formation of a minority Civic Democrat government have collapsed. Social Democrat leader Jiri Paroubek on Thursday abruptly ended negotiations with the Civic Democratic Party saying that it was now obvious that the two sides could not find common ground on the future government's policy programme. He said he would try to form his own cabinet with the help of the Christian Democrats and received a positive response from the Christian Democrat leader Miroslav Kalousek.