Basta's agenda to be determined after his return from Moscow

The Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda will distribute tasks among his deputies only after the replacement in the post of his first deputy has taken place, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Monday. The current first deputy Jan Winkler is to be replaced by the Czech Ambassador to Moscow, Jaroslav Basta of the Social Democrats. The nomination of Mr Basta was approved by the Social Democrat leadership on Friday. The filling of the post by the Social Democrats is considered of key importance by some of the party's members who believe that this will ensure greater influence of the party on the country's foreign policy. Some Social Democrat MPs have made their support for the government of Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek in a confidence vote conditional on this move.