UPDATE 1-Czech vice-PM against any firm euro target date

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PRAGUE, March 16 (Reuters) - The Czech government should not set any firm target date for adopting the euro currency, Deputy Prime Minister Petr Necas said on Friday.

"We need to have a programme of cutting budget deficits... but not set any firm date," Necas, deputy chairman of the senior government party, the Civic Democrats, told a news conference.

The new centre-right government has dropped 2010 as the date for entering the euro zone due to deep fiscal deficits.

Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek, a member of the junior coalition partner, the Christian Democrats, has suggested 2012 may be made the new entry target date later this year.

But officials from Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek's Civic Democratic Party, which is seen as eurosceptic, have been more cautious on setting dates.

Deputy Prime Minister in charge of European affairs, Alexandr Vondra, said earlier this month that while 2012-2013 was a realistic entry date, the government should not commit itself to any date, at least this year.

Necas, who leads the Social and Labour Affairs Ministry that will carry out the bulk of the government's planned social spending reforms, said there was no significant economic reason to set the date now.

He said that among other factors, the Czech Republic had interest rates lower than the euro zone's and quick entry could boost mortgage costs.

"We should focus on a soft landing for the Czech economy in the euro zone and focus on the moment when the Czech Republic's entry into the euro zone will be favourable. We shall not make this a decision of political prestige," he said.

The government expects a public sector deficit of four percent of gross domestic product this year, above 3.3 percent enshrined in the country's previous euro Convergence Programme.

The government aims to slash the deficit to 2.3 percent of GDP in 2010.