Nov. 10 (Bloomberg) -- The Czech government is meeting to break an impasse in the selection of the country’s next European Union commissioner after central bank Governor Zdenek Tuma dropped out and the premier resisted pressure to take the job.

Prime Minister Jan Fischer’s caretaker Cabinet may make a statement later today in Prague on its talks with the leaders of the Civic Democratic Party and the Social Democrats, the nation’s two largest political parties, government spokesman Roman Prorok said yesterday in a statement.

Political leaders are split over who will succeed Commissioner Vladimir Spidla in Brussels. The row is the latest sign of a breakdown in decision making in the Czech Republic, which has had two governments this year and has been criticized abroad for being the last to sign the EU’s governing treaty. Tuma’s nomination was rejected by party leaders on Nov. 8. He said he will stay on at the central bank.

“The past day’s meetings have however shown that I am not a consensus candidate and because of that I consider the question about a possible candidacy as closed,” Tuma said in a statement on the bank’s Web site, published late last night.

Offer Rejected

Fischer, an independent economist, rejected an offer on Nov. 7 by the Civic Democratic Party and the Social Democrats to take the post in Brussels. Over the weekend, he said he would propose his own candidate if party leaders failed, sparking criticism by Civic Democratic leader Mirek Topolanek and Social Democratic Chairman Jiri Paroubek, both of whom are former premiers.

Fischer left his job as head of the Czech Statistical Office to replace Topolanek, who was ousted in March by the Social Democrats, with a mandate to run the government until October, when early elections were scheduled.

That plan has been scrapped and regular elections will now take place in May or June.

Spidla is the first commissioner since the Czech Republic joined the EU in 2004. Commissioner of social affairs and a former premier under a Social Democrat government, Spidla has been proposed for a second term by the Social Democrats.

To contact the reporter for this story: James M. Gomez in Prague at jagomez@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 10, 2009 04:07 EST