Czech coalition leaders fail to agree on Čunek's return

Top representatives of the three coalition parties in government - meeting on Thursday -failed to reach agreement on the return of Christian Democrat leader Jiří Čunek to the cabinet. Members of the Civic Democrats, the Green Party and the Christian Democrats, discussed a number of alternatives, none of which were found acceptable. The Green Party’s Dana Kuchtová said afterwards that Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek is now likely to decide on Mr Čunek’s future in government himself. According to reports, both the Civic Democrats and the Greens have tried to dissuade the Christian Democrats from a Čunek “comeback”; while the politician, who stepped down as deputy prime minister and minister for regional development earlier this year, was cleared of corruption in a high profile case, he has been damaged publicly on different allegations of welfare abuse.