Czech President Vaclav Klaus appointed a new Cabinet on Wednesday, reshuffling the government a month after the former prime minister resigned over his party's crushing defeat in European parliamentary elections. New Prime Minister Stanislav Gross, appointed as premier late last month, leads the new Cabinet. He succeeds Vladimir Spidla, who stepped down as prime minister and leader of his Social Democratic Party after its poor showing in June's European vote. Gross had served as interior minister in Spidla's government and is currently the acting chairman of the center-left Social Democrats. The Social Democrats, who won elections two years ago on a pro-EU ticket, won a mere 8.8 percent of the vote in June's balloting, earning them just two of the country's 24 seats at the EU's legislature. The opposition Civic Democratic Party won 30 percent, or nine seats. Although Gross had promised his Cabinet would be significantly different from the previous one, the lineup announced Wednesday included only a few new faces. "This Cabinet was born somewhat unexpectedly," Klaus said during a swearing-in ceremony at Prague Castle, acknowledging that the last government made it only midway through the usual four-year term. "I see that there are not many new faces in this Cabinet, but I still believe that this team under the new prime minister ... will attempt something new," Klaus said. --more 1517 Local Time 1217 GMT
