PRAGUE, May 29 (Reuters) - Centre-right Czech parties advocating austerity to prevent a Greek-style debt crisis beat pro-welfare leftists in an election on Saturday and looked set to form a government aimed at tackling deep economic reforms.
The government will have to cut the budget deficit in half by 2013 to bring it into line with the EU's 3 percent limit.
Following are the two frontrunners for the finance ministry if centre-right parties are able to form a government.
MIROSLAV KALOUSEK, VICE-CHAIRMAN, TOP09
Kalousek, 49, was finance minister in the centre-right cabinet that collapsed last year.
He is close to outgoing Finance Minister Eduard Janota, who was Kalousek's deputy and supported TOP09 in the election.
Kalousek, a political veteran and a skilled behind-the-scenes operator, presided over the lowest budget deficit this decade in 2007 at 0.7 percent of GDP.
But he was criticised for underestimating the financial and economic crisis' impact on the 2009 budget by keeping growth forecasts unchanged. The economy contracted 4.1 percent last year and the budget gap jumped to 5.9 percent of GDP.
He was the brains behind setting up TOP09 last year, framing the party as the most fiscally responsible on the Czech political scene. TOP09 stands for Tradition, Responsibility, Prosperity.
The party insists the state budget should be balanced or in surplus in periods of growth.
Czech media have criticised Kalousek, a deputy defence minister in the 1990s, for being friends with a known arms dealer who has been involved in government tenders.
He was also called a political 'dinosaur' by the Public Affairs Party, the potential partner in the centre-right cabinet. The party has said Kalousek should not be in the government.
MARTIN KOCOUREK, ECONOMIC ADVISER, CIVIC DEMOCRATS (ODS)
Kocourek, born in 1966, is the main fiscal issues spokesman for the Civic Democrats and is the supervisory board chairman at group CEZ, the 69.8 percent state-owned power company which is the largest listed firm in central Europe.
He has never held a cabinet position. He was vice-chairman of the lower house budget committee from 1998 to 2006.
He pledged in the campaign that the Civic Democrats would not raise taxes, and would cut the budget with spending cuts.
He is also keen on finding an agreement with the opposition on reforming the pension system, which could be partially funded by dividends paid out by CEZ.
Kocourek interned in financial sector companies in London and the United States in the 1990s.
(Reporting by Jason Hovet) Keywords: CZECH ELECTION/FINMIN (prague.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com; +420 224 190 476; Reuters Messaging: jason.hovet.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
The government will have to cut the budget deficit in half by 2013 to bring it into line with the EU's 3 percent limit.
Following are the two frontrunners for the finance ministry if centre-right parties are able to form a government.
MIROSLAV KALOUSEK, VICE-CHAIRMAN, TOP09
Kalousek, 49, was finance minister in the centre-right cabinet that collapsed last year.
He is close to outgoing Finance Minister Eduard Janota, who was Kalousek's deputy and supported TOP09 in the election.
Kalousek, a political veteran and a skilled behind-the-scenes operator, presided over the lowest budget deficit this decade in 2007 at 0.7 percent of GDP.
But he was criticised for underestimating the financial and economic crisis' impact on the 2009 budget by keeping growth forecasts unchanged. The economy contracted 4.1 percent last year and the budget gap jumped to 5.9 percent of GDP.
He was the brains behind setting up TOP09 last year, framing the party as the most fiscally responsible on the Czech political scene. TOP09 stands for Tradition, Responsibility, Prosperity.
The party insists the state budget should be balanced or in surplus in periods of growth.
Czech media have criticised Kalousek, a deputy defence minister in the 1990s, for being friends with a known arms dealer who has been involved in government tenders.
He was also called a political 'dinosaur' by the Public Affairs Party, the potential partner in the centre-right cabinet. The party has said Kalousek should not be in the government.
MARTIN KOCOUREK, ECONOMIC ADVISER, CIVIC DEMOCRATS (ODS)
Kocourek, born in 1966, is the main fiscal issues spokesman for the Civic Democrats and is the supervisory board chairman at group CEZ, the 69.8 percent state-owned power company which is the largest listed firm in central Europe.
He has never held a cabinet position. He was vice-chairman of the lower house budget committee from 1998 to 2006.
He pledged in the campaign that the Civic Democrats would not raise taxes, and would cut the budget with spending cuts.
He is also keen on finding an agreement with the opposition on reforming the pension system, which could be partially funded by dividends paid out by CEZ.
Kocourek interned in financial sector companies in London and the United States in the 1990s.
(Reporting by Jason Hovet) Keywords: CZECH ELECTION/FINMIN (prague.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com; +420 224 190 476; Reuters Messaging: jason.hovet.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.