* Jan Fischer to be appointed caretaker PM on Thursday
* New cabinet takes over on May 9, election seen in Oct
* Fischer to start discussing cabinet posts next week
* Parties agree anti-crisis measures
(Adds Fischer comment, economic package, background)
By Jan Lopatka
PRAGUE, April 8 (Reuters) - Czech President Vaclav Klaus
will appoint non-partisan Jan Fischer prime minister on
Thursday, ending a political crisis that toppled the minority
centre-right cabinet and undermined the country's EU presidency.
Fischer is expected to pick his ministers in the next few
days, take over from Mirek Topolanek on May 9 and lead the
country to an early election planned for October.
The new administration will consist largely of non-party
experts.
Topolanek, who cut income taxes, raised the retirement age
and tightened the budget, is stepping down because the
opposition and several rebel deputies won a no-confidence vote
two weeks ago, bringing down his weak, faction-ridden cabinet.
Fischer's cabinet will be backed by the two biggest parties,
Topolanek's right-wing Civic Democrats and the leftist
opposition Social Democrats, which together control three
quarters of the votes in the lower house of parliament.
Klaus's spokesman said Topolanek and opposition chief Jiri
Paroubek told him they had agreed on a new cabinet with majority
backing.
"President Vaclav Klaus expressed satisfaction with the
solution, which meets the demands he had formulated when the
government resigned," the spokesman said in a statement.
The new cabinet will complete the six-month EU presidency
ending on June 30, and will stay in power only until a general
election which the parties agreed should be held on Oct 9-10,
well before the scheduled election date in mid-2010.
Fischer, head of the Czech Statistical Office, said he would
start putting the government together next week. He gave no
details, but few if any current ministers are likely to remain.
Analysts said the government would be weak and have a very
limited agenda, focused mainly on completing the EU presidency
ending in June, preparing the 2010 budget and designing a
response to the economic downturn.
As well as agreeing on Fischer, the two biggest parties
agreed to support proposals on measures worth some 40 billion
crowns ($1.99 billion) to fight the economic crisis, Social
Democrat Vice-Chairman Milan Urban said [].
On the international side, Fischer will host the June EU
summit.
The Czechs have been criticised for not ratifying the EU's
Lisbon treaty, which would reform the way decisions are taken
and approve the appointment of a long-term EU president.
The Czech upper house is expected to vote on Lisbon by early
May, and may approve it despite opposition by a eurosceptic wing
of the main ruling party, Topolanek's Civic Democrats.
(For a FACTBOX on Fischer, please click on [])
(Additional reporting by Jan Korselt, editing by Tim Pearce)
