Czech president appoints Jiri Rusnok as new PM

Czech President Milos Zeman on Tuesday appointed Jiri Rusnok to replace Petr Necas as prime minister of a caretaker government. The latter resigned last week over a corruption scandal involving his closest aide Jana Nagyova. The new Czech government of Jiri Rusnok will be formed and named in 14 days, Rusnok said, adding his priorities would be drafting the 2014 budget bill, drawing of EU money and post-flood reconstruction and relief work. Zeman said a government without the involvement of parties was the best guarantee that political scandals would be investigated. The parties of the current coalition government will not support the dissolution of the Czech chamber of deputies and early elections as long as they have a "legitimate majority" of 101 votes in the lower house, finance minister and deputy chairman of TOP 09 party Miroslav Kalousek said after the PM's nomination. Earlier on Tuesday, the parties of the existing coalition -- the Civic Democratic Party (ODS), TOP 09 and LIDEM -- collected 101 signatures in support of a new government to be headed by Miroslava Nemcova (ODS) and after they said they would not back the government in the making. Kalousek criticised Zeman for having named Rusnok although the government was unlikely to win confidence vote in the chamber of deputies. He said the planned cabinet did not correspond with the spirit of the constitution.