New Government, Same Challenges

The political vacuum caused by the June resignation of Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla's administration, in light of the ruling coalition's comprehensive defeat in recent European parliamentary elections, appears to have disappeared. In July, President Vaclav Klaus nominated Stanislav Gross of the Social Democrats (CSSD) as the country's acting prime minister, ahead of a vote of confidence in the chamber of deputies, the lower house of the national parliament, in August. BMI View: The difficulties experienced by Gross in ensuring the continued cooperation of members of the previous coalition, as well as the extent of the Czech Republic's current macroeconomic problems, suggest that his appointment is unlikely to support a return to domestic political stability on its own.

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