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Czech Republic country profile

19. 12. 2019

Part of Czechoslovakia until the "velvet divorce" in January 1993, the Czech Republic has a robust democratic tradition, a highly-developed economy, and a rich cultural heritage.

It emerged from over 40 years of Communist rule in 1990, and was the first former Eastern Bloc state to acquire the status of a developed economy. It joined the European Union in 2004.

Communist rule had lasted since 1948, when the restored pre-war democratic system was overthrown in a Soviet-backed coup. The "Prague Spring" of 1968, when Communist leader Alexander Dubcek tried to bring in liberal reforms, was crushed by Warsaw Pact tanks.

In 1989, as the curtain was coming down on communism in the Kremlin, the dissident playwright Vaclav Havel emerged as the figurehead of the country's "velvet revolution" and became the first president of post-communist Czechoslovakia.

Czech Republic

Capital: Prague

  • Population 10.6 million

  • Area 78,866 sq km (30,450 sq miles)

  • Major language Czech

  • Major religion Christianity

  • Life expectancy 76 years (men), 83 years (women)

  • Currency koruna

UN, World Bank
 

LEADERS

President: Milos Zeman

Milos Zeman, a former prime minister, won a second term as president in January 2018.

Mr Zeman was 73 at the time he was re-elected, and bet on a populist anti-immigration stance to narrowly beat Jiri Drahos, a mainstream pro-European academic, in the run-off vote.

An economist by training, President Zeman is the last of the trio of heavyweights who shaped the country's post-1989 history, along with Vaclav Havel, the anti-communist dissident and later president who died in 2011, and Vaclav Klaus, a former centre-right prime minister and president in 2003-2013.

He succeeded President Klaus in 2013, becoming the first directly-elected president. His predecessors where chosen by parliament.

Prime minister: Andrej Babis

Eurosceptic, billionaire and former finance minister Andrej Babis was sworn in as prime minister for a second time in June 2018, in another attempt at forming a stable government.

His ANO party emerged as the largest party in the October 2017 elections and he formed a government two months later, but lost a confidence vote in January 2018 and now relies on Social Democrat and Communist support in parliament.

His term in office has been overshadowed by fraud allegations and an EU conflict-of-interest investigation, prompting his opponents to organise a huge rally in central Prague in June 2019 demanding his resignation.

Some key dates in Czech and Czechoslovak history:

1918 - Republic of Czechoslovakia proclaimed. Tomas Masaryk elected president.

1935 - Masaryk succeeded as president by Edvard Benes.

1939 - Nazi invasion of Czech Lands which become a German protectorate. Slovakia is proclaimed an independent state under profascist leader Jozef Tiso.

1940 - Benes establishes government in exile in London.

1945 - Soviet troops enter Prague. Benes returns and issues decrees which lay the foundation for the expulsion of over two and a half million Sudeten Germans and more than half a million ethnic Hungarians.

1946 - Czechoslovak Communist Party (CPCz) leader Klement Gottwald becomes prime minister in power-sharing government following national elections.

1968 - 'Prague Spring' under reform-minded leader Alexandr Dubcek is crushed when Soviet-led Warsaw Pact troops invade.

1969 - Gustav Husak replaces Dubcek as Communist Party leader.

1975 - Husak becomes president.

1977 - A group of dissidents including playwright Vaclav Havel publish Charter 77 calling for restoration of civil and political rights.

1989 - Massive protests on the streets of Prague force the resignation of the hard-line Communist Party leadership in what is dubbed "the velvet revolution." Federal Assembly abolishes Communists' constitutional hold on power. Vaclav Havel elected president.

1990 - Country renamed Czech and Slovak Federative Republic. First free elections since 1946.

1991 - Soviet forces complete withdrawal.

1993 - Czechoslovakia completes "velvet divorce" which results in two independent countries, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Vaclav Havel elected president of the Czech Republic.

1996 - Vaclav Klaus reappointed as prime minister in a minority coalition government following the Czech Republic's first general election since independence.

1998 - Havel re-elected president for a further five years.

1999 - Czech Republic becomes full member of Nato.

2004 - Czech Republic is one of 10 new nations to join the EU.

Czech Republic - Timeline