ht coalition led by Prime Minister Václav Klaus called over the weekend for changes in policy, warning that otherwise the government might not survive. "Either there will be a change of policy or there will be a change of government," Deputy Prime Minister and Christian Democratic (KDU-CSL) leader Josef Lux said on Saturday. Lux, a frequent critic of Klaus in recent months, told a party congress the government's new course should be oriented towards what he called "a social market economy", the Mlada Fronta Dnes daily reported on Monday. At the same time, a right-wing faction within the junior coalition partner, the Civic Democratic Alliance (ODA), was calling for a revival of the right in Czech politics. The faction, whose five votes in parliament are vital if the budget is to be passed, called for the ODA to pull out of the coalition if the government did not revive its radical reform programme, MFD reported. And the executive of Klaus's Civic Democratic Party (ODS) said the premier and his deputies would lose their jobs if they did not improve their performance. The once sure-footed government has been shaken by public squabbling as the economy has run into problems this year. But last Thursday, the cabinet unanimously agreed a balanced 1998 draft budget, appearing to put aside earlier disputes over whether to balance the books with tax increases. The draft included raising 1.2 billion crowns ($36.7 million) by increasing excise duty on cigarettes. The ODA rightist faction, which opposes the excise duty increase, said it

would support the budget in the first reading in the hope a compromise could be reached later.