TOP 09 urges Civic Democrats to restore discipline

Coalition party TOP 09 has warned that the government will fall if the Civic Democrats fail to restore party discipline and support its key reform bills. The coalition government’s long-term austerity plans have been thwarted by six rebel deputies from the prime minister’s Civic Democratic Party. The rebels rejected a bill on tax hikes which aimed to bring the gap in public finances under 3 percent of the GDP in 2013 and indirectly got the bill on church restitutions shelved. The future of the pension reform bill, which has just been vetoed by the president, will also hinge on their support. The government has linked the bill on higher taxes to a vote of confidence in the Necas administration.