The cabinet of Czech Prime Minister Stanislav Gross Tuesday approved the letter to the Chamber of Deputies in which it requested that the lower house of Parliament calls a session to hold a vote of confidence in the government on August 24, Gross said at a press conference Tuesday after the cabinet talks.

The government's program statement, which is still not ready, will be discussed by the cabinet on Thursday morning, Gross added.Before then, however, the text must be agreed upon by the leadership of the three governing parties.

Originally, the cabinet was to have discussed the statement Tuesday, but on Monday, the coalition parties failed to reach agreement on the definitive text. The issues in question are, among others, across-the-board payments for children, contributions for school supplies, and the introduction of registered cash desks.

Gross also announced that deputy premier Martin Jahn would become the chairman of the government councils for human resource development and for research and development.

"This is of course not the end of the division of agendas among individual deputy premiers," Gross said, adding that the step was nonetheless necessary to ensure that both councils continued to meet their functions.

Source: Xinhua