Prague - The Chamber of Deputies on Wednesday 12 November refused to make MP Kateřina Jacques (Green Party) chairwoman of the committee for European affairs, as several coalition MPs, including two Greens, failed to support the appointment.

The post has been empty since Ondřej Liška (Green Party) quit to become education minister almost a year ago. The vacancy is making the government increasingly nervous, as the committee is to play a key role in the Czech Republic's presidency of the EU that starts in less than two months.

Jacques had been selected for the post by the committee members, but the lower house did not approve the appointment. Several coalition MPs abstained, including Greens Věra Jakubková and Olga Zubová, and Civic Democrats (ODS) Vlastimil Tlustý and Jan Klas.

"It was the highest time to fill this post. The committee is the government's partner for the Czech presidency," said Greens leader Martin Bursík after the vote. "We on the verge of a situation, in which there will be no leader because of some shallow and base reasons."

Jacques was surprised by the move of her fellow party members. "We have discussed this issue in detail among Green MPs and my colleagues had no objections," she said. "A hit coming from one's own ranks hurts. They did it on purpose."

Bursík said he would try to repeat the vote at the next lower house session. "I will ask the prime minister to include [the request] to his negotiations with the Social Democrats," said the Greens chairman. "It is also a topic for discussion within the Green Party. The two MPs will have to explain this. Their votes were needed for this committee to start working."