The Civic Democratic Party (ODS) and TOP 09 consider the coalition government agreement terminated after the Public Affairs (VV, third coalition government partner) decided to unilaterally terminate it on Monday, Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas (ODS) has told journalists.
Necas said on account of this, the planned last meeting of the parties' leadership scheduled for Tuesday did not make sense any longer. In the evening, the VV board decided to terminate the coalition agreement with the two parties as of Tuesday, not as of Friday, as agreed by the three parties leaders, Necas, Karel Schwarzenberg and Radek John, on Sunday.
John said the party would go into "constructive opposition" and would not support all the proposals that were agreed on in the coalition. It is not yet clear how the VV deputies will vote in the planned confidence vote in the government.
"John did not observe the agreement of the chairmen of ODS, TOP 09 and VV concluded on Sunday," Necas said. "Since the VV unilaterally terminated the coalition agreement, the ODS and TOP 09 consider it terminated," Necas said in a press release. Necas said earlier he considered the VV's decision irrational and hysterical.
On Sunday, the three parties' leaders nodded to their respective parties continuing to promote in parliament the planned budget cuts and other steps on which they agreed before April 11. As a result, VV deputies were supposed to support the VAT increase, a slower indexation of pensions, the introduction of enrollment fees at universities and other austerity measures in the Chamber of Deputies even if the VV were no longer a part of the government.
The VV split last week when Deputy Prime Minister Karolina Peake announced that she had left the party. She was followed by other VV deputies, too. Peake said yesterday she had found enough support for the government in the Chamber of Deputies.
The termination of the coalition with the VV on Friday had been agreed on by the ODS board earlier yesterday, too.