The interim Czech government of Prime Minister Jan Fischer is to assume power on May 8, dpa cited President Vaclav Klaus as saying today. The new government should take the Czech Republic to early polls in October and finish the country's presidency of the European Union. Klaus and Fischer spoke to reporters after an hour-long meeting in which the premier had informed the president about the make-up of his caretaker cabinet. Fischer said he would have a complete list of ministers by the end of next week. The outgoing Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek's cabinet is to be replaced less than two months before the country's EU presidency ends on June 30. Topolanek's cabinet, governing as a caretaker since March 26 following a defeat in a parliamentary confidence motion two days earlier, is to quit on the same day as hosting a high-level EU summit in Prague. The EU meeting is aimed at boosting ties with countries in the Caucasus, Central Asia and possibly the Middle East, which are crucial to the EU's plans to diversify its energy resources and supply routes. While government sources said that the summit is scheduled to end by lunchtime, Klaus told reporters that he plans to appoint the new cabinet in the afternoon. Political parties, which made a deal on Fischer's cabinet, wanted Klaus to appoint it on May 9, a day after the summit. The choice of the date underscores president's push for a speedy government changeover. "Vaclav Klaus is pretty unhappy that it won't be sooner than May 8," political scientist Petr Just, who lectures at the Prague-based Metropolitan University, told the German Press Agency dpa. "He has demonstrated from the start that the switch should take place as soon as possible. He was not moved by arguments related to the presidency," Just said. Eurosceptic Klaus, who originally only agreed to chair an EU summit with Russia, appears to have increased his role in the Czech EU presidency. He said on Friday that he will chair a Prague-based summit with Japan on May 4. Officials confirmed earlier this week that Klaus is to head an EU summit with South Korea on May 23 in Seoul. The president also said in a recent newspaper interview that he "will be" at a planned summit with China.
