Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas resigned on Monday over a bribery and spying scandal involving his top aide that has plunged the recession-hit EU state into a fresh political crisis. "Mr President, in line with the constitution... I resign," Necas told his rival President Milos Zeman, who called for talks with political parties from Friday to discuss the government's future. Zeman asked the rightwing Necas, who has been in office for just three years at the head of a shaky coalition government, to stay on as caretaker leader until a new administration is named.

The EU and United States are set to launch negotiations on Monday to create the world's biggest free-trade pact despite a hard line by France to protect its film and culture sectors from Hollywood. Such a deal is touted as a potentially huge boost to business, economic growth and job creation, but the culture issue is seen as potentially offering a bargaining chip to the US side.

The head of the EU executive, Jose Manuel Barroso, has slammed France's determination to protect Europe's film and cultural industries in upcoming negotiations with the United States on the biggest trade pact in history. "Some say they belong to the left, but in fact they are culturally extremely reactionary," the president of the European Commission said in an interview with the International Herald Tribune published Monday.

Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas is to formally resign on Monday over a corruption and spying scandal involving his top aide, plunging the recession-hit EU state into fresh political turmoil. The crisis was sparked by the indictment on Friday of Necas's chief of staff -- and alleged lover -- Jana Nagyova with complicity in the "abuse of power and with bribery". Police accuse her of asking military spies to tail Necas's estranged wife Radka.