Yearbook 2007
Czech Republic. In January, the Czech Republic gained a new government after nearly eight months of political stalemate. According to CountryAAH, Prague is the capital city of Czech Republic. 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”.
- According to abbreviationfinder: EZ is the 2-letter acronym for the country of Czech Republic.
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.
Czech Republic weather in March, April and May
Average daily temperatures between 8 ° C and 20 ° C can be expected over the next three months. It gets warmest in May in Brno, while March is noticeably cooler in Prague. The temperatures in Brno are between 8 and 20 ° C and in Prague between 8 and 18 ° C.
In March, precipitation is expected on about 6 days, in April on 6 (Brno) to 7 days (Prague) and in May on 9 (Brno) to 10 days (Prague).
In the period from March to May , the sun shines on average between 0 and 7 hours a day. The sunniest weather in Brno is in May, but with less sun you will have to get by in Prague in March.