Civic Democrats threaten to withdraw support for government over free cabinet seats

The Civic Democratic Party, under the provisory leadership of Petr Nečas, has said they too will withdraw their ministers from the government if they are not given the cabinet seats freed up by the Green Party. Mr Nečas told the daily Lidové Noviny on Saturday that there was no reason for his party to hold up a government in which the rival Social Democrats have a factual majority. The Civic Democrats and Greens accuse the government of having excluded them while making a non-transparent arrangement with the Social Democratic Party for the appointment of Mr Šebesta to head the environmental ministry. That position opened last week when Green nominee Jan Dusík resigned, saying he was being pressured by the PM to permit the state energy company ČEZ to go ahead with a plan for the modernisation of a controversial power plant.