Klaus "frowns" at changes in Prague

Prague, Nov 24 (CTK) - Czech President Vaclav Klaus has been surprised at the latest "twists" at the Prague Town Hall, he does not understand them and he "is frowning at them," he told the server Novinky.cz and daily Lidove noviny.

Klaus said he is humanly closer to Boris Stastny, chairman of the Prague Civic Democratic Party (ODS), even though he has not spoken to him for many weeks, than to Prague Mayor Bohuslav Svoboda (ODS).

Prime Minister and ODS chairman Petr Necas and TOP 09 chairman and Finance Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, on the contrary, have welcomed their parties' agreement to form a coalition at the Prague Town Hall Thursday.

The coalition replaces that of the ODS and Social Democrats (CSSD) that was formed after the elections in the autumn of 2010 to the displeasure of many politicians as well as public.

TOP 09, the winner of the elections, went into opposition after the polls.

The ODS and CSSD agreed to terminate their coalition cooperation on Wednesday.

Svoboda, 67, remains mayor even in the new coalition.

The ODS and TOP 09 Prague deputies dismissed all four CSSD members of the town council, including deputy mayors Karel Brezina and Antonin Weinert, and elected six TOP 09 members to the council.

Klaus said he considered the ODS-CSSD coalition in Prague a reasonable solution. It seems someone has launched a project which he does not control, he told Novinky.cz.

Klaus signed the "opposition agreement" with the CSSD in 1998 under which the ODS, of which he was chairman at that time, supported a CSSD minority government in exchange for a portion of influence.

Necas hailed the developments saying he discussed it with Svoboda who has his support in October already.

Necas said he is in "intensive contact" not only with Svoboda but also with Prague ODS chief Boris Stastny.

He said he also discussed the matter with Schwarzenberg on Wednesday for the last time.

"It is a solution I preferred after the local elections one year ago already," Necas said.

He praised the speed with which the change was made, adding that other ODS board members are of the same opinion.

Necas reminded that Stastny, though he was surprised by the later developments, proposed the termination of the agreement on Monday and also proposed that the ODS hold negotiations with TOP 09 on a new coalition.

Necas said Thursday he esteems the decision of the ODS Prague deputies "a crushing majority of whom supported the mayor."

He said such a step is politically correct and reasonable.

The Prague ODS is divided into two party factions, one around Sovoboda, the other around Stastny. The latter started to join Svoboda's faction under the pressure of the circumstances.

In spite of this, the Prague regional ODS branch unanimously approved the coalition with TOP 09 tonight. NEcas attended the meeting.

Schwarzenberg told journalists Thursday that TOP 09 supports Svoboda as mayor.

"He has proved himself and I esteem him very much because he really started fighting the wrongs that were at the town hall. He has fallen out with the Godfathers, therefore he is the right mayor and we will support him," Schwarzenberg said.

He said the change was long being negotiated about and that he participated in the negotiations.

Zdenek Tuma, former central bank governor, who is TOP 09 leader in Prague, will only be unpaid chairman of the financial committee of the Prague assembly, replacing the Prague CSSD leader Petr Hulinsky.

He told iHned.cz server Thursday the proposal that TOP 09 do not seek the post of mayor was his personal concession.

"If we did not make this concession, no one knows how it would end up. It would be hardly acceptable for the ODS to lose the mayor," Tuma said.

He said, however, unless the ODS makes its utmost to "cut Godfathers from transactions" in Prague, the new ODS-TOP 09 coalition will not survive.

President Vaclav Klaus, who supported the ODS-CSSD grand coalition in the past, said he was surprised at its disintegration.