Stanislav Gross, the Czech premier, has agreed to step down next week in favour of a little known Social Democrat colleague, but the change appears unlikely to end the government's paralysis over ratification of the European constitutional treaty.
The Social Democrats and their two centre-right coalition partners reached an agreement late on Tuesday to resolve the two-month crisis within the coalition by re-establishing essentially the same cabinet under Jiri Paroubek, regional development minister.
The deal - which still has to be endorsed by the Social Democrat national executive on Saturday - should mean the government can remain in power until the next elections, in mid-2006.
However, given its majority of just two and the bad blood between the coalition partners, there is little optimism that the government will be able to achieve much within that time.
"We probably cannot make big decisions but we can work on them," said Martin Jahn, who is set to be reappointed deputy premier for economic affairs.
Mr Jahn said political stability could make it easier to find a compromise on the European Union constitution with the Eurosceptic opposition, whose support is needed to either approve ratification in parliament or the passage of a bill that would permit a referendum.
"We will have to start new negotiations with the opposition," Mr Jahn said.
Mr Gross, who has only been premier for nine months, has been under increasing pressure to resign since the Christian Democrats pulled out of the government earlier this month, citing questionable property deals Mr Gross allegedly has been involved in.
Last week the coalition agreed to replace Mr Gross's cabinet with a partly technocratic government under Jan Kohout, ambassador to the EU, but the deal was rejected by the Social Democrat national executive as a humiliating defeat.
"Mr Paroubek is the man who wanted the job," said Alexander Mitrofanov, commentator for the leftwing daily, Pravo. "He seized it as the chance of his life."
Mr Paroubek has a reputation as a pragmatic deal-maker on the Prague council, run by acoalition between the opposition Civic Democrats and ruling Social Democrats. "He could always find a way to make the deal," said Marketa Reedova, a councillor.
