Yearbook 2007
Czech Republic. In January, the Czech Republic gained a
new government after nearly eight months of political
stalemate. According to
CountryAAH, Former Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek also led
the new coalition, consisting of his Democratic National
Party (ODS), the Christian Democratic Union and the Green
Party. The government was approved by a small majority in
Parliament, 100 votes against 97. After fierce political
strife, the Liberal-oriented coalition later in the year
received support in the Chamber of Deputies for tax cuts and
cuts in sickness allowance, unemployment benefits and child
support.
There was also a battle over foreign policy. The new
government was positive about the US desire to place a radar
station in the Czech Republic as part of a planned new
anti-robot system to avert threats from Iran and North
Korea. According to Prime Minister Topolánek, the robotic
system would increase the security of the Czech Republic and
the rest of Europe, but the opposition opposed the plans and
the Social Democrats, like President Václav Klaus, wanted a
referendum on the issue. Russia saw the anti-robot system as
a threat and warned the Czech Republic that deployment of
the radar would be "a big mistake".
The United States is said to have exerted strong pressure
on the Czech government and in May negotiations began on the
radar station. In Prague, a couple of thousand people
demonstrated and an opinion poll published in June showed
that 64 percent of Czech residents were against the radar
system. In June, US President George W. Bush visited the
Czech Republic, explaining that the new anti-robot system
was purely defensive and no Russia needed to fear.
In February, information came out that Czech police were
investigating bribery charges against the Swedish attempts
to sell the fighter aircraft JAS Gripen to the Czech
Republic in the late 1990s and early 2000s. In Sweden, a
preliminary investigation was initiated in the same case.
According to media reports, Swedish Saab and its British
partner BAE Systems would have been prepared to pay bribes
for hundreds of millions of kronor to Czech politicians. The
Czech parliament never approved the deal and instead it was
agreed in 2004 that the Czech state would lease 14 JAS
Gripen planes. A counter-purchase program was also agreed.
The designated Czech politicians refused bribery, but the
European Prosecutor's Office Eurojust decided to investigate
the matter.
In February 2010, the right-wing Labor Party was banned.
The first ban on a political party since the upheaval in
1989.
The May 2010 elections gave a dramatic boost to the right
wing. Social Democracy went back 18 seats to 56. In
contrast, two brand new Conservative parties came to
Parliament: the Top 09 and Public Affairs with 41 and 24
seats respectively. However, the conservative progress was
not free. The Christian Democratic Party, with its previous
13 mandates, went all the way out, and the previous ruling
party, the Conservative ODS, withdrew 28 seats. The
Communist Party remained unchanged on 26 seats. Despite the
decline, the Social Democracy was now the largest party in
parliament, but its huge loss of seats meant that President
Jiří Paroubek resigned. ODS subsequently formed government
with ODS chairman Petr Nečas as prime minister.
The Czech Republic was less severely affected by the
global economic crisis that hit in 2008 than most other EU
countries. The reason was a more stable banking sector that
had not gone into speculation like many other EU countries.
The country, on the other hand, was affected indirectly
through the crisis in the other EU countries which reduced
its exports. As a consequence, its GDP fell by approx. 4% in
2009, and unemployment rose from 6.0% in March 2009 to 7.9%
in March 2010. Youth unemployment was up 21.7%.
In September 2010, the conservative cuts policy triggered
large demonstrations in Prague. The following month, the
Social Democracy gets the majority in the Senate after a
midterm election and can thus block the cutback policy.
Vaclav Havel died in December 2011. The government
decreed 1 week of country grief and many of the world's
heads of state went to Prague to attend his funeral.
In February 2012, the Senate passed new legislation that
opened for the president to be elected by direct election.
Not like so far by Parliament. Although he is opposed to
Klaus ends in August signing the law.
Minister of Education Josef Dobeš resigns in March 2012.
Until then, he has countered the segregation of Roma
children and Czech children in schools. In May, new Minister
of Education Petr Fiala will step down. He promises to
abolish discrimination against the Roma in the country's
education system. In December, the Committee of Ministers of
the Council of Europe notes that another 5 years after the
case DH et al. against the Czech state at the European Court
of Human Rights, the country has not yet done much to
eliminate the discrimination of Roma in the country's
education system.
The presidential office was limited to two terms, and the
incumbent President Václav Klaus could therefore not be
re-elected in the January 2013 presidential election. The
second round later this month was won by Zeman with 54.8% in
office in March. Zeman has a number of controversial
positions. Like his predecessor Klaus, he does not believe
global warming can be due to human activity; in June, he
compared Islam to Nazism, stating that an "infection was
spreading from North Africa to Indonesia"; statements that
led to a review; finally, he has opposed Czech recognition
of Kosova.
The Czech Republic has traditionally had a close and
uncritical relationship with Israel, which it has defended
against any form of criticism in both the EU and the UN. In
May 2013, Prime Minister Petr Nečas visited Israel with most
of his cabinet and reiterated the Czech Republic's
unreserved support for Israel.
In June, the police unit to fight organized crime and the
state prosecutor turned against a number of high-ranking
government officials, politicians, corporate leaders and
lobbyists. Among those arrested were both the acting and
former military intelligence chief and top government
ministers who had had unlawful interceptions. After 4 days,
Prime Minister Petr Nečas had to resign as he was sexually
involved with one of the arrests with whom he married 3
months later.
After the Prime Minister's resignation, President Zeman
appointed his personal economic adviserJiří Rusnok to become
new prime minister. The parliamentary majority spoke of
Zeman's elected friends, while Zeman spoke of a
"transitional government". In August, Rusnok lost a vote of
confidence of 93 against 100. Then elections were held in
October. The election led to a major reshuffle in
Parliament. The biggest surprise was that the new ANO 2011
protest party came in with 47 seats, making it the country's
second largest party. The party's chairman,
multi-millionaire Andrej Babiš presented it as liberal, but
at the same time strongly opposed the EU - for example. the
introduction of Euro as the currency in the Czech Republic.
The corrupt Nečas conservative ODS lost 37 seats in return
and gained 16. The conservative TOP 09 went back 15 seats to
26. In contrast, the Christian Democratic Union entered
parliament with 14 seats. The Social Democracy went back 6
mandates to 50 and the Communist Party 7 mandates to 33. In
November, the Social Democrats negotiated the formation of a
coalition government with the ANO 2011 and the Christian
Democrats. That led in January 2014 to government formation
among the three parties with the Social Democrat Bohuslav
Sobotka as prime minister.
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