Centrumrechtse partij Tsjechië stelt plan eurosceptische fractie in EP uit (en)

The Czech centre-right party, involved in coalition talks after winning June's elections - has ditched a plan to join the UK conservative MEPs in a new eurosceptic group in the European Parliament until after 2009.

The move was publicly confirmed on Monday (10 July) by Jan Zahradil, the leader of the parliamentary delegation of Czech deputies from the Civic Democrat Party (ODS).

"We have decided to delay our involvement in long-prepared talks over a new eurorealist group in the European Parliament in a bid to ensure that they do not collide with the Czech government coalition negotiations," Mr Zahradil said in a statement for the MF Dnes daily.

"This is not about us abandoning our autonomous priorities but about expression of our responsibilities."

"The project of the new group itself does not deserve to be hijacked by internal political developments," said Mr Zahradil.

The news comes as a blow to the UK conservatives, who viewed the ODS as one of their key allies in leaving the European Popular Party (EPP-ED), the biggest parliamentary group, seen by some as federalist and not in line with the EU policies of the UK Tories.

The conservative leader David Cameron promised to leave the EPP-ED as part of his agenda before getting elected to the party's chair last year.

The party's shadow foreign secretary William Hague still maintained in June that the conservatives would manage to get enough votes to form a new group by July.

However, the Czech ODS changed its views after the June elections in the country which ended in political paralysis despite the ODS' formal victory, due to a tight division between the centre-right and the left-leaning spectrum - represented by the Social democrats and communists.

The ODS has been divided on whether to leave the EPP and team up with the UK Tories, possibly joined by the Polish ruling Law and Justice party and other smaller parties or individual MEPs sharing their eurosceptic views.

The ODS leader and prospective prime minister Mirek Topolanek, has signalled more concrete steps of the delay including appointing the less outspoken eurosceptic Alexander Vondra and not - as expected earlier - Jan Zahradil as the country's new foreign minister.

Mr Topolanek suggested the break-away plan could be realised after the European elections in 2009.