Bohuslav Sobotka
Bohuslav Sobotka | |
|---|---|
Sobotka in 2017 | |
| Prime Minister of the Czech Republic | |
| In office 17 January 2014 – 13 December 2017 | |
| President | Miloš Zeman |
| Deputy | Andrej Babiš (2014–17) Pavel Bělobrádek Richard Brabec |
| Preceded by | Jiří Rusnok |
| Succeeded by | Andrej Babiš |
| Leader of the Social Democratic Party | |
| In office 29 May 2010 – 15 June 2017 Acting: 29 May 2010 – 21 March 2011 | |
| Preceded by | Jiří Paroubek |
| Succeeded by | Milan Chovanec |
| In office 26 April 2005 – 13 May 2006 Acting | |
| Preceded by | Stanislav Gross |
| Succeeded by | Jiří Paroubek |
| Minister of Industry and Trade Acting | |
| In office 1 March 2017 – 4 April 2017 | |
| Prime Minister | Himself |
| Preceded by | Jan Mládek |
| Succeeded by | Jiří Havlíček |
| Minister of Finance | |
| In office 12 July 2002 – 4 September 2006 | |
| Prime Minister | Vladimír Špidla Stanislav Gross Jiří Paroubek |
| Preceded by | Jiří Rusnok |
| Succeeded by | Vlastimil Tlustý |
| Member of the Chamber of Deputies | |
| In office 1 June 1996 – 31 March 2018 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 23 October 1971 Telnice, Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic) |
| Political party | Social Democratic Party |
| Spouse |
Olga Pekárková
(m. 2003; div. 2018) |
| Children | 2 |
| Alma mater | Masaryk University |
| Signature | |
| Website | Official website |
Bohuslav Sobotka (Czech pronunciation: [ˈboɦuslaf ˈsobotka]; born 23 October 1971) is a Czech politician and lawyer who served as the prime minister of the Czech Republic from January 2014 to December 2017 and leader of the Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD) from 2010 until his resignation in June 2017. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies (MP) from 1996 to 2018. Sobotka also served as Minister of Finance from 2002 to 2006.
Elected as an MP in 1996, Sobotka was appointed Finance Minister in the Cabinet of Vladimír Špidla in 2002, and reappointed in the cabinets of Social Democratic Prime Ministers Stanislav Gross and Jiří Paroubek. He also served two stints as Deputy Prime Minister. After the 2006 legislative election, Sobotka became an opposition MP. In 2011, he was elected leader of the Social Democrats and thus Leader of the Opposition to the Cabinet of Petr Nečas.
Following his party's victory in the 2013 Czech legislative election, Sobotka was appointed prime minister on 17 January 2014 by President Miloš Zeman, to head a center-left coalition government consisting of ČSSD, ANO 2011 and KDU-ČSL. His government introduced a series of measures to tackle tax evasion, such as electronic registration of sales and a VAT control system, strengthened relations with China, enacted police reforms, repealed the Civil Service Act, and introduced a smoking ban. He also clashed frequently with President Miloš Zeman regarding the Russian intervention in Ukraine and resulting sanctions, domestic policy, and a government crisis in May 2017 which saw Sobotka resign, then withdraw his resignation. Sobotka was the first prime minister in 15 years and the third in the history of the Czech Republic to finish his full term.
On 14 June 2017, resigned as leader of ČSSD due to low opinion polling prior to the 2017 legislative election, but opted to stay on as prime minister. He was re-elected in the South Moravian Region, and in December 2017 was succeeded as Prime Minister by Andrej Babiš. On 31 March 2018, Sobotka retired from the Chamber of Deputies citing personal reasons.