Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer said yesterday he had accepted an offer to become vice-president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development after elections in May.

"I accepted the EBRD's offer in line with my statement last year that I see my future not in politics, but in work for a Czech or foreign expert institution," Mr Fischer said in a statement. The non-partisan Mr Fischer became an interim prime minister a year ago after the centre-right government led by Mirek Topolanek was toppled midway through the Czechs' European Union Presidency.

Mr Fischer, who worked as head of the Czech Statistical Office, agreed to lead the country until snap elections due last autumn, but a fumbled election plan forced him to stay on until regular elections scheduled for May 28-29 this year. Starting in September, Mr Fischer will be in charge of communication with countries where the EBRD is active, and of "monitoring the environmental and social aspects of the EBRD's activities," reads the statement.

Currently operating in 29 countries, the EBRD was created in 1991 to encourage former Soviet states to adopt market economies, but it is venturing further east and southeast.