Czech Crisis round-up from China

A review of the present situation from Xinhua is linked here. It begins: PRAGUE, April 7 (Xinhua) -- The Czech coalition government may not be strong enough to keep in power until the end of the Czech EU presidency in June, Deputy Prime Minister Alexandr Vondra said Tuesday.

"We are not strong enough to push this through," said Vondra in a radio interview.

Vondra had called for the continued ruling of the outgoing government, comprising the Civic Democrats (ODS), Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL) and the Greens, until the end of the EU presidency on June 30.

But the coalition ruling seemed unlikely to continue as Czech President Vaclav Klaus and Chairman of the Czech opposition Social Democrats (CSSD) Jiri Paroubek "say a clear 'no' to it," he said.

The anticipated interim government is an instrument or a "cableway" to bring the country quickly to early elections, and no other option is actually possible, he said.

Leaders of the four democratic parties in parliament on Sunday agreed to form an interim government headed by Jan Fischer, chairman of the Czech Statistical Office (CSU).

On Monday, the senior ruling ODS and the senior opposition CSSD confirmed their support for the agreement, but the junior ruling KDU-CSL and Greens said they were pulling out of it. In response, the ODS said the agreement is still valid.