Czechs to get 34-year-old prime minister

Social Democrat leader Mr Stanislav Gross will be officially nominated as Czech Prime Minister later today, making him Europe…

Social Democrat leader Mr Stanislav Gross will be officially nominated as Czech Prime Minister later today, making him Europe's youngest prime minister at the age of 34.

The announcement will pave the way for a new centre-left government after Mr Vladimir Spidla stepped down last month.

President Vaclav Klaus, as expected, said he would nominate Mr Gross after a meeting that followed weeks of political horse-trading.  The nomination will take place at 3:00 p.m. locally (2 p.m. Irish time).

Mr Gross has been holding talks with two other parties - the centrist Christian Democrats and the rightist Freedom Union - and is expected to form a coalition government by August 1st.

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He is scheduled to hold further talks with the parties today as they hammer out a coalition agreement to guide the government until a general election in spring 2006.

Mr Gross said last week the new government's major priorities had already been agreed. He did not elaborate, but the parties have said state budgets, changes to tax laws, household rent deregulation and foreign policy are key policy areas.

The coalition is the same as that of Mr Spidla, also a Social Democrat, who was pressured to quit after his party and government were routed in a June European Parliament election.