Václav Klaus
Václav Klaus | |
|---|---|
Klaus in 2015 | |
| 2nd President of the Czech Republic | |
| In office 7 March 2003 – 7 March 2013 | |
| Prime Minister | Vladimír Špidla Stanislav Gross Jiří Paroubek Mirek Topolánek Jan Fischer Petr Nečas |
| Preceded by | Václav Havel |
| Succeeded by | Miloš Zeman |
| Prime Minister of the Czech Republic | |
| In office 1 January 1993 – 2 January 1998 | |
| President | Václav Havel |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Josef Tošovský |
| President of the Chamber of Deputies | |
| In office 17 July 1998 – 20 June 2002 | |
| Preceded by | Miloš Zeman |
| Succeeded by | Lubomír Zaorálek |
| Leader of the Civic Democratic Party | |
| In office 21 April 1991 – 15 December 2002 | |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Mirek Topolánek |
| Prime Minister of the Czech Republic (Federal part) | |
| In office 2 July 1992 – 31 December 1992 | |
| President | Václav Havel |
| Preceded by | Petr Pithart |
| Succeeded by | Position abolished |
| Member of the Chamber of Deputies | |
| In office 7 June 1990 – 7 March 2003 | |
| Minister of Finance of Czechoslovakia | |
| In office 10 December 1989 – 2 July 1992 | |
| Prime Minister | Marián Čalfa |
| Preceded by | Jan Stejskal |
| Succeeded by | Jan Klak |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 19 June 1941 Prague, Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (now Czech Republic) |
| Political party | OF (1989–1991) ODS (1991–2003) Independent (2003–present) |
| Other political affiliations | National Council of European Resistance |
| Height | 1.79 m (5 ft 10 in) |
| Spouse | Livia Mištinová (1968–present) |
| Children | Václav Jan |
| Relatives | Zoë Pastelle (niece) |
| Alma mater | University of Economics, Prague, Cornell University |
| Signature | |
| Website | Official website |
Václav Klaus (Czech pronunciation: [ˈvaːtslaf ˈklaus]; born 19 June 1941) is a Czech economist and politician who served as the second president of the Czech Republic from 2003 to 2013. From July 1992 until the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in January 1993, he served as the second and last prime minister of the Czech Republic while it was a federal subject of the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic, and then as the first prime minister of the newly independent Czech Republic from 1993 to 1998.
During the Communist era, Klaus worked as a bank clerk and forecaster. After the fall of Communism in November 1989, he became the Minister of Finance in the "government of national unity". In 1991, Klaus was the principal co-founder of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS). He was prime minister from 1992 to 1997, and from January to February 1993 he held certain powers of the Presidency.
His government fell in the autumn of 1997; after the elections in the spring of 1998, he became the president of the Chamber of Deputies (1998–2002). After ODS lost the parliamentary elections of 2002, he withdrew from politics briefly, before being elected President of the Czech Republic in February 2003. He was re-elected in 2008 for a second five-year term. His presidency was marked by many controversies over his strong opinions on issues ranging from global warming denial to Euroscepticism, and a wide-ranging amnesty declared in his last months of office, triggering his indictment by the Czech Senate on charges of high treason.
Klaus left active politics after his second presidential term ended in March 2013 but continues to comment on domestic and foreign policy issues. His political views have been referred to as Klausism.