Brussels, 06/04/2009 (Agence Europe) - The leaders of the two main political parties in the Czech Republic agreed on Sunday 5 April 2009 to set up an interim government and hold early general elections in the autumn. Czech prime minister Mirek Topolánek, whose government lost a vote of confidence on 24 March 2009, said that he was expecting the head of the country's statistical office, Jan Fischer, to lead the caretaker government. Fischer, a 58-year old civil servant, will become prime minister of the current government on 9 May 2009 and will therefore lead the EU for the last two months of the Czech Presidency. The caretaker government will comprise over a dozen high-ranking civil servants and experts put forward by the coalition in power at the moment and the Social Democrats (who are in opposition). Topolanek explained that they would be responsible for continuing the Czech Presidency of the EU, preparing next year's budget, tackling the economic crisis and managing the state machinery. He suggested that early elections might be held on 9 and 10 October 2009 (rather than summer 2010). The task of appointing a new prime minister falls to the Czech President, Vaclav Klaus, who has already indicated that he will respect the desires of the main political parties as long as they reached agreement among themselves. Speaking through a spokesperson, the European Commission simply commented on Monday 6 April that it had confidence in the Czech authorities' ability to meet all their European responsibilities. (A.B. trans fl)