* Two right-wing parties push ahead coalition talks
* President concerned about new parties
* President meets party leaders
By Roman Gazdik
PRAGUE, May 31 (Reuters) - Two Czech right-wing parties
agreed on priorities for the next government on Monday, a sign
of quick progress in talks to form a three-party centre-right
coalition after a weekend election.
The leftist Social Democrats won the most votes in the
election, but combined gains by the three centre-right parties,
including two new groupings, made it all but impossible for them
to take power.
Leaders of two of the right-wing parties, Civic Democrats
and TOP09, agreed on Monday on policy priorities, but
negotiations with the third party, Public Affairs, were expected
to be tougher.
Last week's election gave the right a strong mandate to
carry out fiscal reforms to cut the budget deficit from last
year's 5.9 percent. Czechs also sent a clear message demanding a
cleanup of politics tainted by corruption scandals by voting for
the new parties.
Markets gave a cheer to the result, sending the crown
currency 1.6 percent up to 25.47 to the euro in morning trade.
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
For a full menu of stories, click on []
http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/RNGS/2010/MAY/CZECH2.jpg
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
Petr Necas, leader of the right-wing Civic Democrats, and
Karel Schwarzenberg of the conservative TOP09 agreed the next
cabinet would focus on fiscal and pension reforms, healthcare,
law enforcement, corruption and justice, as well as education,
environment and farming.
"We have agreed that we will agree," Schwarzenberg said
after the talks.
TOP09 also agreed Necas, a 45-year old leader of the Civic
Democrats, should be the prime minister.
TOUGHER TALKS AHEAD
The two parties' agendas are very close and it is expected
that the harder part of the coalition talks will be reaching an
agreement with the centrist Public Affairs party, a new untested
grouping led by a popular former TV presenter.
The coalition would have 118 seats in the 200-seat lower
house, a stronger majority than any Czech cabinet has had since
the country was created in 1993.
President Vaclav Klaus expressed concern about TOP09 and
especially Public Affairs.
"With these two parties, we cannot know how they will behave
in real politics," he told daily Lidove Noviny in an interview.
"I have no clue how many people they have prepared to take
the posts of immense responsibility as members of the cabinet
and parliament."
TOP09 was formed a year ago, mostly by defectors from the
Christian Democrat Party, shortly after a centre-right cabinet
fell in the middle of its term as EU president.
It is led by Schwarzenberg, a pipe-smoking 72-year-old
aristocrat and former foreign minister who has a high reputation
for personal integrity and has not been tainted by any graft
scandals. Economic affairs in the party are handled by political
veteran and former finance minister, Miroslav Kalousek.
Public Affairs was founded in 2001 but its activities were
largely confined to Prague city politics. []
Klaus met Social Democrat acting chief Bohuslav Sobotka on
Monday, and he may later ask him to lead coalition talks.
That would be in line with Czech tradition to give the
nominal election winner the first chance to form a cabinet.
Sobotka has said the tradition should be kept even though he
admitted he did not see much chance of succeeding.
With no realistic prospect of a left-wing government, Klaus
may also go straight to Necas and ask him to lead the talks.
(Writing by Jan Lopatka; Editing by Charles Dick)
