The President V. Klaus appointed the new coalition Cabinet yesterday (including the Social Democrats, the Christian Democrats and the Freedom Union), led by the Social Democrat leader, S. Gross. The Cabinet is expected to approve its program on August 17 and it is then scheduled to ask Parliament for a vote of confidence on August 24. As the make-up of the Cabinet has not significantly changed, no major changes in the recent government policy (with possible consequences for the state-owned companies: Cesky Telecom, CEZ and Unipetrol) are likely. Based on its narrow majority of 101 out of 200 MPs, the new Cabinet is expected to gain confidence.
Jan Hajek