Coordinates	56°09′″N40°25′″N
Native name
Conventional long name	Czech Republic
Common name	Czech Republic
Image coat	Coat of arms of the Czech Republic.svg
map caption
National motto	(Czech)"Truth prevails"
National anthem	(Czech)"Where is my home?"
Official languages	Czech
Languages	Slovak, Bulgarian, Croatian, German, Greek, Hungarian, Polish, Romani, Russian, Rusyn, Serbian and Ukrainian
Languages type	Officially recognized minority languages
Demonym	Czech
Capital	Prague (''Praha'')
Largest city	capital
Government type	Parliamentary republic
Leader title1	President
Leader name1	Václav Klaus
Leader title2	Prime Minister
Leader name2	Petr Nečas
Sovereignty type	Formation
Established event1	Principality of Bohemia
Established date1	c. 870 – 1198
Established event2	Kingdom of Bohemia
Established date2	1198–1918
Established event3	Czechoslovakia
Established date3	28 October 1918
Established event4	Czech Republic
Established date4	1 January 1993
Accessioneudate	1 May 2004
Euseats	24
Area rank	116th
Area magnitude	1_E10
Area km2	78,866
Area sq mi	30,450
Percent water	2
Population estimate	10,535,811
Population estimate year	2011
Population estimate rank	78th
Population census	10,230,060
Population census year	2001
Population density km2	133
Population density sq mi	341
Population density rank	84th
Religion	non-believer (59%), Catholic (26,8%)
Gdp ppp year	2010 (CIA World Factbook)
Gdp ppp	$261.3 billion
Gdp ppp per capita	$25,600
Gdp nominal	$192.152 billion
Gdp nominal year	2010
Gdp nominal per capita	$18,288
Gini	26
Gini year	2008
Gini rank	4th
Gini category	low
Hdi year	2010
Hdi	0.841
Hdi rank	28th
Hdi category	very high
Currency	Czech koruna
Currency code	CZK
Time zone	CET
Utc offset	+1
Time zone dst	CEST
Utc offset dst	+2
Ethnic groups	90.5% Czechs,3.7% Moravians,1.9% Slovaks,3.9% others and unspecified
Ethnic groups year	2001
Drives on	right
Cctld	.cz³
Calling code	+4204
Footnote1	30 June 2010 (See Population changes).
Footnote2	Rank based on 2009 IMF data.
Footnote3	Also .eu, shared with other European Union member states.
Footnote4	Shared code 42 with Slovakia until 1997. a. Rhetorical question meaning "Those places where my homeland lies". }}

The Czech Republic ( ; , , short form ''Česko'' ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest.

The Czech Republic is a pluralist multi-party parliamentary representative democracy. The Parliament has two chambers: the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. It is a member of the European Union, NATO, the OECD, the OSCE, the Council of Europe and the Visegrád Group.

The Czech state, known as Bohemia and later as the Bohemian Crown, was formed in the late 9th century. The country reached its greatest territorial extent during the 13th and 14th century, under the rule of the Přemyslid and Luxembourg dynasties. Following the Battle of Mohács in 1526, the Kingdom of Bohemia was integrated into the Habsburg monarchy as one of its three principal parts alongside Austria and Hungary. Bohemia later became the industrial powerhouse of the monarchy and the core of the Republic of Czechoslovakia which was formed in 1918, following the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian empire after World War I. After the Munich Agreement (signed by Nazi Germany, France, Britain and Italy), Polish annexation of Zaolzie and German occupation of Czechoslovakia and the consequent disillusion with the Western response and gratitude for the liberation of the major portion of Czechoslovakia by the Red Army, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia won plurality (38%) in the 1946 elections.

In a 1948 coup d'état, Czechoslovakia became a communist-ruled state. In 1968, the increasing dissatisfaction culminated in attempts to reform the communist regime. The events, known as the Prague Spring of 1968, ended with an invasion by the armies of the Warsaw Pact countries (with the exception of Romania); the troops remained in the country until the 1989 Velvet Revolution, when the communist regime collapsed. On 1 January 1993, Czechoslovakia peacefully dissolved into its constituent states, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

The Czech Republic made economic reforms such as fast privatizations. Annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth stood at around 6% until the outbreak of the recent global economic crisis. The country is the first former member of the Comecon to achieve the status of a developed country according to the World Bank. In addition, The Czech Republic has the highest human development in Central and Eastern Europe, ranking as a "Very High Human Development" nation. It is also ranked as the most democratic and healthy (by infant mortality) country in the region and as the third most peaceful country in Europe and has the highest beer consumption per capita in the world.

Etymology

The traditional English name "Bohemia" derives from Latin "Boiohaemum", which means "home of the Boii". The current name comes from the Czech endonym "Čechy" using the antiquated spelling "Czechy", identical with the Polish one.

The country has been traditionally divided into "lands", namely Bohemia proper (Čechy) in the west, Moravia (Morava) in the southeast, and Czech Silesia (Slezsko; the smaller, south-eastern part of historical Silesia, most of which is located within modern Poland) in the northeast. Known officially as the "Crown of the Kingdom of Bohemia" since the 14th century, a number of other names of the country had been used, including the Lands of the Bohemian Crown, Czech/Bohemian lands, Bohemian Crown, Lands of the Crown of Saint Wenceslas etc. When the country regained its independence after the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian empire in 1918, the new name of ''Czechoslovakia'' was coined to reflect the union of the Czech and Slovak nations within the new country.

Following the dissolution of Czechoslovakia at the end of 1992, the Czech part of the former nation found itself without a common single-word name in English. In 1993, the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs suggested the name Czechia (''Česko'' in Czech) as an official alternative in all situations other than formal official documents and the full names of government institutions; however, this has not become widespread in English, even though most other languages have single-word names for the country (usually their own variants of "Czechia").

History

Prehistory

Archaeologists have found evidence of prehistoric human settlements in the area, dating back to the Neolithic era. In the classical era, from the 3rd century BC Celtic migrations, the Boii and later in the 1st century, Germanic tribes of Marcomanni and Quadi settled there. During the Migration Period around the 5th century, many Germanic tribes moved westwards and southwards out of Central Europe.

Slavic people from the Black Sea and Carpathian regions settled in the area (a movement that was also stimulated by the onslaught of peoples from Siberia and Eastern Europe: Huns, Avars, Bulgars and Magyars). Following in the Germans' wake, they moved southwards into Bohemia, Moravia and some of present day Austria. During the 7th century, the Frankish merchant Samo, supporting the Slavs fighting their Avar rulers, became the ruler of the first known Slav state in Central Europe. The Moravian principality arose in the 8th century.

Bohemia

The Bohemian or Czech state emerged in the late 9th century, when it was unified by the Přemyslid dynasty. The kingdom of Bohemia was, as the only kingdom in the empire, a significant regional power during the Middle Ages. It was part of the Holy Roman Empire during the entire existence of that confederation.

In 1212, King Přemysl Otakar I, bearing the title "king" since 1198, extracted a Golden Bull of Sicily (a formal edict) from the emperor, confirming the royal title for Otakar and his descendants. Large-scale German immigration occurred in the 13th century. The Germans populated towns and mining districts on the Bohemian periphery and, in some cases, formed German colonies in the interior of the Czech lands. In 1235, the mighty Mongol army launched an invasion of Europe. After the Battle of Legnica, the Mongols carried their devastating raid into Moravia, but they were beaten by the Czech royal army in a battle of Olomouc and continued into Hungarian lands.

King Přemysl Otakar II earned the nickname of "the King of Gold and Iron" because of his military power and wealth. He acquired Austria, Styria and Carinthia, thus spreading the Bohemian territory to the Adriatic Sea. He met his death at the Battle on the Marchfeld in 1278 in a war with his rival, King Rudolph I of Germany. Ottokar's son Wenceslaus II acquired the Polish crown in 1300 for himself and the Hungarian crown for his son. In 1306, the last king of Přemyslid line was murdered in mysterious circumstances by a German mercenary named Konrada of Botenštejnuin in Olomouc while he was resting in the house of Albrecht of Sternberga. After a series of dynastic wars, the House of Luxembourg gained the Bohemian crown.

The 14th century, particularly the reign of Charles IV, is considered the Golden Age of Czech history. Of particular significance was the founding of Charles University in Prague in 1348. The Black Death, which had raged in Europe from 1347 to 1352, decimated the Kingdom of Bohemia in 1380, killing about 10% of the population.

In the 15th century, the religious and social reformer Jan Hus formed a movement later named after him. Although Hus was named a heretic and burnt in Constanz in 1415, his followers seceded from the Catholic Church and in the Hussite Wars (1419–1434) defeated five crusades organized against them by the Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund. Petr Chelčický continued with Czech Hussite Reformation movement. During the next two centuries, 90% of the inhabitants became adherents of the Hussite Christian movement.

After 1526 Bohemia came increasingly under Habsburg control as the Habsburgs became first the elected and then the hereditary rulers of Bohemia. The Defenestration of Prague and subsequent revolt against the Habsburgs in 1618 marked the start of the Thirty Years' War, which quickly spread throughout Central Europe. In 1620, the rebellion in Bohemia was crushed at the Battle of White Mountain, and the ties between Bohemia and Habsburgs' hereditary lands in Austria were strengthened. The war had a devastating effect on the local population; the people were given the choice either to convert to Catholicism or leave the country.

The following period, from 1620 to the late 18th century, has been often called the "Dark Age". The population of the Czech lands declined by a third through war, disease, famine and the expulsion of the Protestant Czechs. The Habsburgs banned all religions other than Catholicism. Ottoman Turks and Tatars invaded Moravia in 1663, taking 12,000 slaves. In 1679–1680 the Czech lands faced a devastating plague and an uprising of serfs.

The reigns of Maria Theresa of Austria and her son Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor and co-regent from 1765, were characterized by enlightened absolutism. In 1742, most of Silesia, then the possession of the Bohemian crown, was seized by King Frederick II of Prussia in the War of the Austrian Succession. The Great Famine, which lasted from 1770 until 1771, killed about one tenth of the Czech population, or 250,000 inhabitants, and radicalized countrysides leading to peasant uprisings.

After the fall of the Holy Roman Empire, Bohemia became part of the Austrian Empire and later of Austria–Hungary. Serfdom was not completely abolished until 1848. After the Revolutions of 1848, Emperor Franz Josef I of Austria instituted an absolute monarch in an effort to balance competing ethnic interests in the empire.

Czechoslovakia

An estimated 150,000 Czech soldiers died in World War I. More than 100,000 Czech volunteers formed the Czechoslovak Legions in Russia, where they fought against the Central Powers and later against Bolshevik troops. Following the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire after World War I, the independent republic of Czechoslovakia was created in 1918. This new country incorporated regions of Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia, Slovakia and the Carpathian Ruthenia (known as the Subcarpathian Rus at the time) with significant German, Hungarian, Polish and Ruthenian speaking minorities.

Although Czechoslovakia was a unitary state, it provided what were at the time rather extensive rights to its minorities. However, it did not grant its minorities any territorial political autonomy. The failure to do so resulted in discontent and strong support among some of the minorities for a break from Czechoslovakia. Adolf Hitler took advantage of this opportunity and, supported by Konrad Henlein's Sudeten German Party, gained the largely German speaking Sudetenland (and its substantial Maginot Line like border fortifications) through the 1938 Munich Agreement. Poland annexed the Zaolzie area around Český Těšín. Hungary gained parts of Slovakia and the Subcarpathian Rus as a result of the First Vienna Award in November 1938.

The remainders of Slovakia and the Subcarpathian Rus gained greater autonomy, with the state renamed to "Czecho-Slovakia". After Nazi Germany threatened to annex part of Slovakia, allowing the remaining regions to be partitioned by Hungary and Poland, Slovakia chose to maintain its national and territorial integrity, seceding from Czecho-Slovakia in March 1939, and allying itself, as demanded by Germany, with Hitler's coalition.

The remaining Czech territory was occupied by Germany, which transformed it into the so-called Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. The protectorate was proclaimed part of the Third Reich, and the president and prime minister were subordinate to the Nazi ''Reichsprotektor'' ("imperial protector"). Subcarpathian Rus declared independence as the Republic of Carpatho-Ukraine on 15 March 1939 but was invaded by Hungary the same day and formally annexed the next day. Approximately 345,000 Czechoslovak citizens, including 277,000 Jews, were killed or executed while hundreds of thousands of others were sent to prisons and concentration camps or used as forced labour. Perhaps two–thirds of the Czech nation was destined either for extermination or removal. A Nazi concentration camp existed at Terezín, north of Prague.

There was Czech resistance to Nazi occupation, both at home and abroad, most notably with the assassination of Nazi leader Reinhard Heydrich in a Prague suburb on 27 May 1942. The Czechoslovak government-in-exile and its army fighting against the Germans were acknowledged by the Allies; Czechoslovak troops fought in the UK, North Africa, the Middle East and the Soviet Union. The German occupation ended on 9 May 1945, with the arrival of the Soviet and American armies and the Prague uprising. An estimated 140,000 Soviet soldiers died in conquering Czechoslovakia from German rule.

In 1945–1946, almost the entire German minority in Czechoslovakia, about 3 million people, were expelled to Germany and Austria. During this time, thousands of Germans were held in prisons and detention camps or used as forced labour. In the summer of 1945, there were several massacres. The only Germans not expelled were some 250,000 who had been active in the resistance against the Nazis or were considered economically important, though many of these emigrated later. Following a Soviet-organised referendum, the Subcarpathian Rus never returned under Czechoslovak rule but became part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, as the Zakarpattia Oblast in 1946.

Czechoslovakia uneasily tried to play the role of a "bridge" between the West and East. However, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia rapidly increased in popularity, with a general disillusionment with the West, because of the pre-war Munich Agreement, and a favourable popular attitude towards the Soviet Union, because of the Soviets' role in liberating Czechoslovakia from German rule. In the 1946 elections, the Communists gained 38% of the votes and became the largest party in the Czechoslovak parliament. They formed a coalition government with other parties of the National Front and moved quickly to consolidate power. The decisive step took place in February 1948, during a series of events characterized by Communists as a "revolution" and by anti-Communists as a "takeover", the Communist People's Militias secured control of key locations in Prague, and a new all-Communist government was formed.

For the next 41 years, Czechoslovakia was a Communist state within the Eastern Bloc. This period was marked by a variety of social developments. The Communist government completely nationalized the means of production and established a command economy. The economy grew rapidly during the 1950s and 1960s but slowed down in the 1970s, with increasing problems during the 1980s. The political climate was highly repressive during the 1950s, including numerous show trials, but became more open and tolerant in the 1960s, culminating in Alexander Dubček's leadership in the 1968 Prague Spring, which tried to create "socialism with a human face" and perhaps even introduce political pluralism. This was forcibly ended by 21 August 1968 Warsaw Pact invasion.

The invasion was followed by a harsh program of "Normalization" in the late 1960s and the 1970s. Until 1989, the political establishment relied on censorship of the opposition. Dissidents published Charter 77 in 1977, and the first of a new wave of protests were seen in 1988. Between 1948 and 1989 more than 250,000 Czechs and Slovaks were sent to prison for "anti-state activities" and over 400,000 emigrated.

Velvet revolution and independence

In November 1989, Czechoslovakia returned to a liberal democracy through the peaceful "Velvet Revolution". However, Slovak national aspirations strengthened and on 1 January 1993, the country peacefully split into the independent Czech Republic and Slovakia. Both countries went through economic reforms and privatisations, with the intention of creating a capitalist economy. This process was largely successful; in 2006 the Czech Republic was recognised by the World Bank as a "developed country", and in 2009 the Human Development Index ranked it as a nation of "Very High Human Development".

From 1991, the Czech Republic, originally as part of Czechoslovakia and now in its own right, has been a member of the Visegrád Group and from 1995, the OECD. The Czech Republic joined NATO on 12 March 1999 and the European Union on 1 May 2004. It held the Presidency of the European Union for the first half of 2009.

Politics

The Czech Republic is a pluralist multi-party parliamentary representative democracy, with the Prime Minister as head of government. The Parliament (''Parlament České republiky'') is bicameral, with the Chamber of Deputies () (200 members) and the Senate (''Senát'') (81 members).

The President of the Czech Republic is selected by a joint session of the parliament for a five-year term, with no more than two consecutive terms. The president is a formal head of state with limited specific powers, most importantly to return bills to the parliament, nominate Constitutional court judges for the Senate's approval and dissolve the parliament under certain special and unusual circumstances. He also appoints the prime minister, as well the other members of the cabinet on a proposal by the prime minister.

The Prime Minister is the head of government and wields considerable powers, including the right to set the agenda for most foreign and domestic policy, mobilize the parliamentary majority and choose government ministers.

The members of the Chamber of Deputies are elected for a four year term by proportional representation, with a 5% election threshold. There are 14 voting districts, identical to the country's administrative regions. The Chamber of Deputies, the successor to the Czech National Council, has the powers and responsibilities of the now defunct federal parliament of the former Czechoslovakia.

The members of the Senate are elected in single-seat constituencies by two-round runoff voting for a six-year term, with one-third elected every even year in the autumn. The first election was in 1996, for differing terms. This arrangement is modeled on the U.S. Senate, but each constituency is roughly the same size and the voting system used is a two-round runoff. The Senate is unpopular among the public and suffers from low election turnout, overall roughly 30% in the first round and 20% in the second.

Foreign relations

Membership in the European Union is central in Czech Republic's foreign policy. The Czech Republic held the Presidency of the Council of the European Union for the first half of 2009.

Czech officials have supported dissenters in Burma, Belarus, Moldova and Cuba.

Military

The Czech armed forces consist of the Army, Air Force and of specialized support units. In 2004, the Czech armed forces completely phased out conscription and transformed into a fully volunteer military army and air force. The country has been a member of NATO, since 12 March 1999. Defence spending is around 1.8% of the GDP (2006). Currently, as a member of NATO, the Czech military are participating in ISAF and KFOR operations and have soldiers in Afghanistan and Kosovo.

Administrative divisions

Since 2000, the Czech Republic is divided into thirteen regions (Czech: ''kraje'', singular ''kraj'') and the capital city of Prague. Each region has its own elected Regional Assembly (''krajské zastupitelstvo'') and ''hejtman'' (usually translated as hetman or "president"). In Prague, their powers are executed by the city council and the mayor.

The older seventy-six districts (''okresy'', singular ''okres'') including three "statutory cities" (without Prague, which had special status) lost most of their importance in 1999 in an administrative reform; they remain as territorial divisions and seats of various branches of state administration.

align=right offices located in Prague (Praha) České Budějovice (''Plzeňský kraj'') (''Karlovarský kraj'') (''Ústecký kraj'') (''Liberecký kraj'') Hradec Králové (''Pardubický kraj'') (''Olomoucký kraj'') (''Moravskoslezský kraj'') (''Jihomoravský kraj'') (''Zlínský kraj'') (''Kraj Vysočina'')

style="width:1em"	(Lic. plate)			Capital	Population (2004 est.)	Population (2010 est.)
align=center>A	<		, the Capital City (''Hlavní město Praha'')	1,170,571 || align=right>1,251,072
align=center	S	(''Středočeský kraj'')	|	1,144,071	1,256,850
align=center	C	(''Jihočeský kraj'')	|	625,712	637,723
align=center	P	|	Plzeň	549,618	571,831
align=center	K	|	Karlovy Vary	304,588	307,380
align=center	U	|	Ústí nad Labem	822,133	835,814
align=center	L	|	Liberec	427,563	439,458
align=center	H	(''Královéhradecký kraj'')	|	547,296	554,370
align=center	E	|	Pardubice	505,285	516,777
align=center	M	|	Olomouc	635,126	641,555
align=center	T	|	Ostrava	1,257,554	1,244,837
align=center	B	|	Brno	1,123,201	1,152,819
align=center	Z	|	Zlín	590,706	590,527
align=center	J	|	Jihlava	517,153	514,805

Geography

The Czech Republic lies mostly between latitudes 48° and 51° N (a small area lies north of 51°), and longitudes 12° and 19° E.

The Czech landscape is exceedingly varied. Bohemia, to the west, consists of a basin drained by the Elbe () and the Vltava (or Moldau) rivers, surrounded by mostly low mountains, such as the Krkonoše range of the Sudetes. The highest point in the country, Sněžka at , is located here. Moravia, the eastern part of the country, is also quite hilly. It is drained mainly by the Morava River, but it also contains the source of the Oder River ().

Water from the landlocked Czech Republic flows to three different seas: the North Sea, Baltic Sea and Black Sea. The Czech Republic also leases the Moldauhafen, a lot in the middle of the Hamburg Docks, which was awarded to Czechoslovakia by Article 363 of the Treaty of Versailles, to allow the landlocked country a place where goods transported down river could be transferred to seagoing ships. The territory reverts to Germany in 2028.

Phytogeographically, the Czech Republic belongs to the Central European province of the Circumboreal Region, within the Boreal Kingdom. According to the World Wide Fund for Nature, the territory of the Czech Republic can be subdivided into four ecoregions: the Central European mixed forests, Pannonian mixed forests, Western European broadleaf forests and Carpathian montane conifer forests.

There are four national parks in the Czech Republic. The oldest is Krkonoše National Park (Biosphere Reserve), Šumava National Park (Biosphere Reserve), National Park Podyjí, České Švýcarsko National Park.

Climate

The Czech Republic has a temperate continental climate, with relatively hot summers and cold, cloudy and snowy winters. Most rain falls during the summer. The temperature difference between summer and winter is relatively high, due to the landlocked geographical position.

Within the Czech Republic, temperatures vary greatly, depending on the elevation. In general, at higher altitudes, the temperatures decrease and precipitation increases. The wettest area in the Czech Republic is found around Bílý Potok in Jizera Mountains and the driest region is the Louny District to the northwest of Prague. Another important factor is the distribution of the mountains; therefore, the climate is quite varied.

At the highest peak of Sněžka (), the average temperature is only , whereas in the lowlands of the South Moravian Region, the average temperature is as high as . The country's capital, Prague, has a similar average temperature, although this is influenced by urban factors.

The coldest month is usually January, followed by February and December. During these months, there is usually snow in the mountains and sometimes in the major cities and lowlands. During March, April and May, the temperature usually increases rapidly, especially during April, when the temperature and weather tends to vary widely during the day. Spring is also characterized by high water levels in the rivers, due to melting snow with occasional flooding.

The warmest month of the year is July, followed by August and June. On average, summer temperatures are about 20 degrees higher than during winter. Especially in the last decade, temperatures above are not unusual. Summer is also characterized by rain and storms.

Autumn generally begins in September, which is still relatively warm and dry. During October, temperatures usually fall below or and deciduous trees begin to shed their leaves. By the end of November, temperatures usually range around the freezing point.

The coldest temperature measured was in Litomeřice,České Budejovice, at -40.2C The hottest measured, was at 42.2C at Praha, Uhřineves.

Economy

The Czech Republic possesses a developed, high-income economy with a GDP per capita of 82% of the European Union average. One of the most stable and prosperous of the post-Communist states, the Czech Republic has seen a growth of over 6% annually in the three years before outbreak of the recent global economic crisis. Growth has been led by exports to the European Union, especially Germany and foreign investment, while domestic demand is reviving.

Most of the economy has been privatised, including the banks and telecommunications. The current centre-right government plans to continue with privatisation, including the energy industry and the Prague airport. It has recently agreed to the sale of a 7% stake in the energy producer, CEZ Group, with the sale of the Budějovický Budvar brewery also mooted. A 2009 survey in cooperation with the Czech Economic Association found that the majority of Czech economists favor continued liberalization in most sectors of the economy.

The country is part of the Schengen Area, having abolished border controls, completely opening its borders with all of its neighbours, Germany, Austria, Poland and Slovakia, on 21 December 2007. The Czech Republic became a member of the World Trade Organisation.

The last Czech government led by social democrats had expressed a desire to adopt the euro in 2010, but the current centre-right government suspended that plan in 2007. An exact date has not been set up, but the Finance Ministry described adoption by 2012 as realistic, if public finance reform passes. However, the most recent draft of the euro adoption plan omits giving any date. Although the country is economically better positioned than other EU Members to adopt the euro, the change is not expected before 2013, due to political reluctance on the matter.

On 1 January 2009, former Czech PM, Mirek Topolánek, declared that on 1 November 2009, the Czech government will announce a fixed date for euro adoption, since the country "currently fulfils all criteria for adoption of the euro", however his subsequent deposition has rendered this deadline moot. There are several challenges, however. The rate of corruption remains one of the highest among the other developed OECD countries and the public budgets remain in deficit despite strong growth of the economy in recent years. However, the 2007 deficit has been 1.58% GDP and the 2008 deficit is expected at 1.2% GDP, according to EU accounting rules, far better than original projections.

The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks the Czech education system as the 15th best in the world, higher than the OECD average.

Infrastructure

Ruzyně International Airport is the main international airport in the country. In 2007, it handled 12.4 million passengers, which makes it one of the busiest airports in Central Europe. In total, Czech Republic has 46 airports with paved runways, six of which provide international air services.

České dráhy (the Czech railways) is the main railway operator in the Czech Republic, with about 180 million passengers carried yearly. Its cargo division, ČD Cargo, is the fifth largest railway cargo operator in the European Union. With of tracks, the Czech Republic has one of the densest railway networks in Europe. From that number, is electrified, are single-line tracks and are double and multiple-line tracks.

In 2005, according to the Czech Statistical Office, 65.4% of electricity was produced in steam, combined and combustion power plants (mostly coal); 30% in nuclear plants; and 4.6% from renewable sources, including hydropower. Russia, via pipelines through Ukraine and to a lesser extent, Norway, via pipelines through Germany, supply the Czech Republic with liquid and natural gas.

The Czech Republic is reducing its dependence on highly polluting low-grade brown coal as a source of energy. Nuclear power presently provides about 30% of the total power needs, its share is projected to increase to 40%. Natural gas is procured from Russian Gazprom, roughly three-fourths of domestic consumption and from Norwegian companies, which make up most of the remaining one-fourth. Russian gas is imported via Ukraine (Druzhba pipeline), Norwegian gas is transported through Germany. Gas consumption (approx. 100 TWh in 2003–2005) is almost two times higher than the electricity consumption. South Moravia has small oil and gas deposits.

The road network in Czech Republic is long.

Communications

The Czech Republic has the most Wi-Fi subscribers in the European Union. By the beginning of 2008, there was over 800 mostly local WISPs, with about 350,000 subscribers in 2007. Mobile internet is very popular. Plans based on either GPRS, EDGE, UMTS or CDMA2000 are being offered by all three mobile phone operators (T-Mobile, Vodafone, Telefonica O2) and internet provider U:fon. Government-owned Český Telecom slowed down broadband penetration. At the beginning of 2004, local-loop unbundling began and alternative operators started to offer ADSL and also SDSL. This and later privatisation of Český Telecom helped drive down prices.

On 1 July 2006, Český Telecom was acquired by globalized company (Spain owned) Telefonica group and adopted new name Telefónica O2 Czech Republic. As of January 2006, ADSL2+ is offered in many variants, both with data limit and without with speeds up to 10 Mbit/s. Cable internet is gaining popularity with its higher download speeds beginning at 2 Mbit/s up to 100 Mbit/s. The largest ISP, UPC (which acquired another CATV internet provider Karneval in 2007), provides its service in all major cities.

Science

The Czech Republic has a rich scientific tradition. Important inventions include the modern contact lens, the separation of modern blood types, and the production of the Semtex plastic explosive. Prominent scientists who lived and worked in historically Czech lands include:

Jan Amos Komenský (1592–1670), educator and national hero, often considered the founder of modern education for his work in pedagogy.

Václav Prokop Diviš (1698–1765), inventor of the lightning rod; independently of Benjamin Franklin

Bernard Bolzano (1781–1848), noted mathematician, logician, philosopher, and pacifist.

Jan Evangelista Purkyně (1787–1869), anatomist and physiologist responsible for the discovery of Purkinje cells, Purkinje fibres and sweat glands, as well as Purkinje images and the Purkinje shift.

Josef Ressel (1793–1857), inventor of the screw propeller. Gregor Mendel (1822–1884), often called the "''father of genetics''", is famed for his research concerning the inheritance of genetic traits. Bedřich Hrozný (1879–1952), deciphered the Hittite language. Jaroslav Heyrovský (1890–1967), first Czech Nobel Prize laureate, awarded the prize in 1959 for pioneering research in polarography and electroanalytical chemistry. Otto Wichterle (1913–1998) and Drahoslav Lím (1925–2003), Czech chemists responsible for the invention of the modern contact lens. A number of other scientists are also connected in some way with the Czech Lands, including astronomers Johannes Kepler and Tycho Brahe, the founder of the psychoanalytic school of psychiatry Sigmund Freud, physicists Ernst Mach, Albert Einstein, engineer Viktor Kaplan and logician Kurt Gödel.

Tourism

The Czech economy gets a substantial income from tourism. In 2001, the total earnings from tourism reached 118.13 billion CZK, making up 5.5% of GNP and 9.3% of overall export earnings. The industry employs more than 110,000 people – over 1% of the population. In 2008, however, there was a slump in tourist numbers in Prague, possibly due to the strong Czech koruna (crown) making the country too expensive for visitors, compared to the level of services that were available.

The country's reputation has also suffered with guidebooks and tourists reporting overcharging by taxi drivers and pickpocketing problems. Since 2005, Prague's mayor, Pavel Bém, has worked to improve this reputation by cracking down on petty crime and, aside from these problems, Prague is a safe city. Also, the Czech Republic as a whole generally has a low crime rate.

There are several centres of tourist activity. The historic city of Prague is the primary tourist attraction, as the city is also the most common point of entry for tourists visiting other parts of the country. Most other cities in the country attract significant numbers of tourists, but the spa towns, such as Karlovy Vary, Mariánské Lázně and Františkovy Lázně, are particularly popular holiday destinations. Other popular tourist sites are the many castles and chateaux, such as those at Karlštejn Castle, Český Krumlov and the Lednice–Valtice area. Away from the towns, areas such as Český ráj, Šumava and the Krkonoše Mountains attract visitors seeking outdoor pursuits.

The country is also famous for its love of puppetry and marionettes with a number of puppet festivals throughout the country.

The famous Pilsener style beer originated in western Bohemian city of Plzeň, and further south the town of Budweis lent its name to its beer, eventually known as Budweiser Bier Bürgerbräu thus Budweiser. The tourism is slowly sparkling around the Southern Moravian region too, which is producing 94% of the Czech Republics wineyard.

Demographics

+ Population of the Czech lands
Year !! Total !! Change
! 1857	7,016,531	–
1869	7,617,230	+8.6%
1880	8,222,013	+7.9%
1890	8,665,421	+5.4%
1900	9,372,214	+8.2%
1910	10,078,637	+7.5%
1921	10,009,587	−0.7%
1930	10,674,386	+6.6%
1950	8,896,133	−16.7%
1961	9,571,531	+7.6%
1970	9,807,697	+2.5%
1980	10,291,927	+4.9%
1991	10,302,215	+0.1%
2001	10,230,060	−0.7%
2011	10,540,748	+2.9%

According to the 2001 census, the vast majority of the inhabitants of the Czech Republic are Czechs (94.24%) (including Moravians and Silesians). The most numerous national minorities are: Slovaks (1.89%); Poles (0.51%); Germans (0.38%); Ukrainians (0.22%); Vietnamese (0.17%); Hungarians (0.14%); Russians (0.12%); Romani (0.11%); Bulgarians (0.04%); and Greeks (0.03%). According to some estimates, there are actually at least 250,000 Romani people in the Czech Republic.

There were 436,116 foreigners residing in the country in October 2009, according to the Czech Interior Ministry, with the largest groups being Ukrainian (132,481), Slovak (75,210), Vietnamese (61,102), Russian (29,976), Polish (19,790), German (14,156), Moldovan (10,315), Bulgarian (6,346), Mongolian (5,924), American (5,803), Chinese (5,314), British (4,461), Belarusian (4,441), Serbian (4,098), Romanian (4,021), Kazakh (3,896), Austrian (3,114), Italian (2,580), Dutch (2,553), French (2,356), Croatian (2,351), Bosnian (2,240), Armenian (2,021), Uzbek (1,969), Macedonian (1,787) and Japanese (1,581).

The Jewish population of Bohemia and Moravia, 118,000 according to the 1930 census, was virtually annihilated by the Nazis during the Holocaust. There were approximately 4,000 Jews in the Czech Republic in 2005. The former Czech prime minister, Jan Fischer, is of Jewish origin and faith.

The fertility rate is a low 1.50 children per woman. Immigration increased the population by almost 1% in 2007. About 77,000 new foreigners settle down in the Czech Republic every year. Vietnamese immigrants began settling in the Czech Republic during the Communist period, when they were invited as guest workers by the Czechoslovak government. Today, there are an estimated 70,000 Vietnamese in the Czech Republic. In contrast to Ukrainians, Vietnamese come to the Czech Republic to live permanently.

At the turn of the 20th century, Chicago was the city with the third largest Czech population, after Prague and Vienna. According to the 2006 US census, there are 1,637,218 Americans of full or partial Czech descent.

{|class="infobox" style="text-align:center; width:97%; margin-right:10px; font-size:90%" |- ! style="text-align:center;" colspan="11"| |- !rowspan=23 width:150| 165px|PraguePrague 165px|BrnoBrno 165px|OstravaOstrava ! style="text-align:center; background:#f5f5f5;"|Rank ! style="text-align:center; background:#f5f5f5;"|City ! style="text-align:center; background:#f5f5f5;"|Region ! style="text-align:center; background:#f5f5f5;"|Population ! style="text-align:center; background:#f5f5f5;"|Metropolitan area !rowspan=23 width:150| 165px|PlzeňPlzeň 165px|LiberecLiberec border|165px|OlomoucOlomouc |- | style="text-align:center; background:#f0f0f0;"|1||align=left|Prague||align=left|Prague, the Capital City||1,289,108||2,300,000 |- | style="text-align:center; background:#f0f0f0;"|2||align=left|Brno||align=left|South Moravian||404,291||729,510 |- | style="text-align:center; background:#f0f0f0;"|3||align=left|Ostrava||align=left|Moravian-Silesian||311,026||1,164,328 |- | style="text-align:center; background:#f0f0f0;"|4||align=left|Plzeň||align=left|Plzeň||171,127||380,000 |- | style="text-align:center; background:#f0f0f0;"|5||align=left|Liberec||align=left|Liberec||104,964||270,000 |- | style="text-align:center; background:#f0f0f0;"|6||align=left|Olomouc||align=left|Olomouc||101,785||480,000 |- | style="text-align:center; background:#f0f0f0;"|7||align=left|Ústí nad Labem||align=left|Ústí nad Labem||98,504||- |- | style="text-align:center; background:#f0f0f0;"|8||align=left|České Budějovice||align=left|South Bohemian||95,543||- |- | style="text-align:center; background:#f0f0f0;"|9||align=left|Hradec Králové||align=left|Hradec Králové||95,485||- |- | style="text-align:center; background:#f0f0f0;"|10||align=left|Pardubice||align=left|Pardubice||90,725||- |- | style="text-align:center; background:#f0f0f0;"|11||align=left|Havířov||align=left|Moravian-Silesian||82,083||- |- | style="text-align:center; background:#f0f0f0;"|12||align=left|Zlín||align=left|Zlín||77,066||450 000 |- | style="text-align:center; background:#f0f0f0;"|13||align=left|Kladno||align=left|Central Bohemian||70,721||- |- | style="text-align:center; background:#f0f0f0;"|14||align=left|Most||align=left|Ústí nad Labem||68,967||- |- | style="text-align:center; background:#f0f0f0;"|15||align=left|Karviná||align=left|Moravian-Silesian||61,614||- |- | style="text-align:center; background:#f0f0f0;"|16||align=left|Opava||align=left|Moravian-Silesian||59,525||- |- | style="text-align:center; background:#f0f0f0;"|17||align=left|Frýdek-Místek||align=left|Moravian-Silesian||59,264||- |- | style="text-align:center; background:#f0f0f0;"|18||align=left|Karlovy Vary||align=left|Karlovy Vary||53,219||- |- | style="text-align:center; background:#f0f0f0;"|19||align=left|Děčín||align=left|Ústí nad Labem||51,878||- |- | style="text-align:center; background:#f0f0f0;"|20||align=left|Jihlava||align=left|Vysočina||51,160||- |- | colspan="5" style="text-align:center; background:#f5f5f5;"| |}

Religion

39.9 4,021,385 1,665,617 203,996 178,036 10,302,215

+ Top religious affiliations in the Czech Republic, census 1991–2001
	style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"	1991	2001		change
! number!! %!!number!! %
	4,112,864	|	6,039,991	59.0	+46.9%
align=left	Roman Catholic Church	|	39.0	2,740,780	26.8	−31.8%
align=left	not identified	|	16.2	901,981	8.8	−45.8%
align=left	Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren	|	2.0	117,212	1.1	−42.5%
align=left	Czechoslovak Hussite Church	|	1.7	99,103	1.0	−44.3%
align=left	total population	|	100.0	10,230,060	100.0	−0.7%

The Czech Republic has one of the least religious populations on Earth. Historically, the Czech people have been characterised as "tolerant and even indifferent towards religion". According to the 2001 census, 59% of the country is agnostic, atheist or irreligious, 26.8% is Roman Catholic and 2.5% is Protestant. From 1991 to 2001, the number of people identifying with no religion increased by 19.1%, or two million people, representing the largest group increase. Adherence to Christianity decreased by over one million persons.

According to a Eurobarometer Poll in 2005, 19% of Czech citizens responded that "they believe there is a God" (the second lowest rate among European Union countries after Estonia with 16%), whereas 50% answered that "they believe there is some sort of spirit or life force" and 30% said that "they do not believe there is any sort of spirit, God or life force".

Culture

Music

Music in the Czech Republic has its roots in more than 1000 years old sacred music (first preserved references come from the end of 10th century), in traditional folk music of Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia and in long-term high-culture classical music tradition. Since early eras of artificial music, Czech musicians and composers have been often influenced by genuine folk music. Notable Czech composers include Adam Michna, Jan Dismas Zelenka, Josef Mysliveček, Bedřich Smetana, Leoš Janáček, Antonín Dvořák, Bohuslav Martinů, Erwin Schulhoff and Petr Eben. The most famous music festival is "Prague Spring" ([[Prague Spring International Music Festival| Pražské jaro]]), that has been annually organized since 1946.

Literature

Czech literature is the literature written by Czechs or other inhabitants of the Czech state, mostly in the Czech language, although other languages like Old Church Slavonic, Latin or German have been also used, especially in the past. Czech authors who had written in the German language, such as Franz Kafka, are usually excluded from the corpus of Czech literature, regardless of their own national self-identification.

Czech literature is divided into several main time periods: the Middle Ages; the Hussite period; the years of re-Catholicization and the baroque; the Enlightenment and Czech reawakening in the 19th century; the avantgarde of the interwar period; the years under Communism and the Prague Spring; and the literature of the post-Communist Czech Republic. Czech literature and culture played a major role on at least two occasions, when Czechs lived under oppression and political activity was suppressed. On both of these occasions, in the early 19th century and then again in the 1960s, the Czechs used their cultural and literary effort to strive for political freedom, establishing a confident, politically aware nation.

Theatre

Theatre of the Czech Republic has rich tradition with roots in the Middle Ages. In the 19th century, the theatre played an important role in the national awakening movement and later, in the 20th century it became a part of the modern European theatre art.

Cuisine

Czech cuisine is marked by a strong emphasis on meat dishes. Pork is quite common; beef and chicken are also popular. Goose, duck, rabbit and wild game are served. Fish is rare, with the occasional exception of fresh trout and carp, which is served at Christmas.

Aside from Slivovitz, Czech beer and wine, Czechs also produce two uniquely Czech liquors, Fernet Stock and Becherovka. Kofola is a non-alcoholic domestic cola soft drink which competes with Coca Cola and Pepsi in popularity.

Two unique Czech dishes are Vepřo-knedlo-zelo and Svíčková na smetaně. Czech desserts aren't particularly sweet, and frequently are with poppy seeds.

Sports

Sports play a part in the life of many Czechs, who are generally loyal supporters of their favourite teams or individuals. The two leading sports in the Czech Republic are football (soccer) and ice hockey, both drawing the largest attention of both the media and supporters. Tennis is also a very big sport in the Czech Republic. The many other sports with professional leagues and structures include basketball, volleyball, team handball, track and field athletics and floorball.

Sport is a source of strong waves of patriotism, usually rising several days or weeks before an event. The events considered the most important by Czech fans are: the Ice Hockey World Championships, Olympic Ice hockey tournament, UEFA European Football Championship, FIFA World Cup and qualification matches for such events. In general, any international match of the Czech ice hockey or football national team draws attention, especially when played against a traditional rival: Germany and Netherlands in football; Russia, Finland, Sweden, United States, and Canada in ice hockey; and Slovakia in both. Matches against Germany and Russia possess an additional element of rivalry due to historically political friction, while matches against Slovakia are in large part considered significant because the two countries had been united prior to their separation from each other in the 1990s. The Czech Republic also has great influence on tennis with such players as,2010 Wimbledon Championships - Men's Singles finalist Tomáš Berdych, 2011 Wimbledon Championships - Women's Singles champion, Petra Kvitova, 1998 Wimbledon Women's Singles title Jana Novotná, 2011 Wimbledon Championships – Women's Doubles champion Květa Peschke and 18 time Grand Slam Champion Martina Navratilova.

See also

Atlas of Europe

Bohemian glass

Cinema of the Czech Republic

Communications in the Czech Republic

Karlovy Vary International Film Festival

Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

National Theatre (Prague)

Public holidays in the Czech Republic

Spa towns in the Czech Republic

Television in the Czech Republic

Lists:

List of cities in the Czech Republic

List of Czech musical groups

List of Czech Republic-related topics

List of postal codes in the Czech Republic

List of twin towns and sister cities in the Czech Republic

Lists of Czechs

}}

References

Further reading

Hochman, Jiří. ''Historical dictionary of the Czech State'' (1998)

External links

Czech Republic.

; Government

Governmental website.

Presidential website.

Portal of the Public Administration.

Chamber of Deputies.

Senate.

Chief of State and Cabinet Members.

; General information

Czech Republic information from the United States Department of State.

Portals to the World from the United States Library of Congress.

Czech Republic at ''UCB Libraries GovPubs''.

; News

The Prague Post.

CzechNews.

Czech News Agency News.

Prague Daily Monitor.

Radio Prague.

; Statistics

Czech Statistical Office.

; Travel

Czech Tourism Official travel site of the Czech Republic.

Category:European countries Category:Landlocked countries Category:Liberal democracies Category:Member states of NATO Category:Member states of the European Union Category:Republics Category:Slavic countries Category:States and territories established in 1993 Category:Member states of the United Nations

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Coordinates	56°09′″N40°25′″N
Name	Václav Klaus
Office	President of the Czech Republic
Primeminister	Vladimír ŠpidlaStanislav GrossJiří ParoubekMirek TopolánekJan FischerPetr Nečas
Term start	7 March 2003
Predecessor	Václav Havel
Office2	Chairman of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic
Primeminister2	Miloš Zeman
Term start2	17 July 1998
Term end2	20 June 2002
Predecessor2	Miloš Zeman
Successor2	Lubomír Zaorálek
Office3	Prime Minister of the Czech Republic
President3	Václav Havel
Term start3	1 January 1993
Term end3	17 December 1997
Predecessor3	Office created
Successor3	Josef Tošovský
President4	Václav Havel
Term start4	2 July 1992
Term end4	31 December 1992
Predecessor4	Petr Pithart
Successor4	Office abolished
Office5	Minister of Finance of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic
Primeminister5	Marián Čalfa
Term start5	10 December 1989
Term end5	2 July 1992
Predecessor5	Jan Stejskal
Successor5	Jan Klak
Birth date	June 19, 1941
Birth place	Prague, Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (now Czech Republic)
Party	Independent (1991– 2009 Civic Democratic Party)
Spouse	Livia Mištinová
Children	2 sons
Alma mater	University of Economics, Prague
Profession	Economist
Religion	Czechoslovak Hussite Church
Signature	Vaclav Klaus Signature.svg
Website	www.klaus.cz }}

Václav Klaus (; born 19 June 1941 in Prague) is the second President of the Czech Republic (since 2003, reelected 2008) and a former Prime Minister of the Czech Republic (1992–1997).

An economist, he is co-founder of the Civic Democratic Party, the Czech Republic's largest center-right political party. Klaus is a eurosceptic, but he reluctantly endorsed the Lisbon treaty as president of his country. He has been called "the Margaret Thatcher of Central Europe".

Early life

Klaus grew up in the upper-middle class residential Vinohrady neighborhood of Prague and graduated from the University of Economics, Prague in 1963; he also spent some time at universities in Italy (1966) and Cornell University in the United States (1969).

He then pursued a postgraduate academic career at the (state) Institute of Economics of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, which he left in 1970. He soon obtained a position in the Czechoslovakian State Bank with permission to travel abroad, a rare privilege.

He subsequently, from 1971 to 1986, held various positions at the Czechoslovak State Bank. In 1987 Klaus joined the Prognostics Institute of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences.

Robert Eringer, a former American counterintelligence operative and later intelligence head of Monaco, stated that Klaus worked for the communist secret police in a number of infiltration operations and that Russia still possesses archives of his activities.

Rise to Premiership

Václav Klaus entered politics during the Velvet Revolution in 1989. He came to the offices of the Civic Forum (OF) during the second week of the Revolution along with other economists who offered their technical expertise to the OF.

He became Czechoslovakia's Minister of Finance in the "government of national unity" on 10 December 1989. In October 1990, Klaus was elected the OF's chairman by regional deputies despite the wish of the Prague dissidents who created it, prefiguring its split and founding of other political parties. Jiří Dienstbier, the Foreign Minister and leader of the OF deposed by Klaus, has said "While we were concerned with running the country, Klaus was concerned with building his own power through attacking us as 'elitist'. This is a tactic he has continued to this day.“ In April 1991 Klaus founded and became the chairman of the Civic Democratic Party (''Občanská demokratická strana'', ODS), one of the largest and most conservative Czech parties .

In June 1992, the ODS won the elections in the Czech Republic; but the winner in Slovakia was Vladimír Mečiar's nationalistic Movement for a Democratic Slovakia. Slovak demands for increased sovereignty were incompatible with the limited "viable federation" supported by the Czechs; both leaders assumed the premiership in their respective polities and quickly agreed, without a referendum, on a smooth division of Czechoslovakia and its assets under a caretaker federal government, later dubbed the Velvet Divorce.

Klaus continued as Prime Minister after the 1996 election, but the ODS's win was much narrower.

Corruption scandal

In 1997 Václav Klaus was forced to step down as the Prime Minister due to a financing scandal in his party in November 1997 after a government crisis caused by the ODS funding scandal, an event quickly dubbed "Sarajevo Assassination" ('''', in analogy with the one that started the First World War) by his sympathisers, because the calls for him to resign occurred during his visit to Sarajevo.

Then President Václav Havel publicly referred to Klaus's economic policies as "gangster capitalism" and blamed the prime minister for corruption surrounding his policy of voucher privatization and his cadre of close allies such as the dentist, politician, and entrepreneur Miroslav Macek.

Defeats

At the mid-December IX. congress, Klaus was confirmed as chairman by 227 votes of 312 delegates; the defeated faction left ODS and in early 1998 established a new party named Freedom Union (''Unie svobody'', US) with president Václav Havel's sympathies.

The ODS lost the early elections in 1998 to Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD). Still, the results (unlike any following) would have allowed both parties to create a safe majority with smaller center parties. However, US chairman Jan Ruml refused to support ČSSD. Klaus struck an "opposition agreement" (''opoziční smlouva'') with ČSSD chairman Miloš Zeman, his traditional foe, though both also had much mutual respect: ODS tolerated Zeman's minority government in exchange for a share of control of positions and privatization revenue, including the Speaker of Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic for Klaus. The Opposition Agreement led to public demonstrations, particularly against the attempt regulate Czech Television. This, in turn, caused Zeman to announce that he would not stand again for the post of prime minister.

ODS went to the elections of June 2002 relying on Klaus's image. At the polls, he was defeated by ČSSD's new leader Vladimír Špidla, who had rejected the opposition agreement. Eventually, Špidla created a left-center coalition. After long hesitation, and having suffered a loss in the October Senate elections, Klaus did not run for re-election at the December congress (which declared him honorary chairman). Against his wishes, he was succeeded by Mirek Topolánek.

Presidency

Having lost two general elections in a row, Klaus's hold on the ODS appeared to become weaker, and he announced his intention to step down from the leadership and run for President to succeed Václav Havel, who had been one of his greatest political opponents. However, the governing coalition, buffeted especially by feuds within ČSSD, was unable to agree on a common candidate to oppose him.

Klaus was elected President of the Czech Republic by secret ballot of the parliament on 28 February 2003 after two failed elections earlier in the month, in the third round of the election (both chambers vote on two top candidates jointly). He won with a majority of 142 votes out of 281. It was widely reported that Klaus won because of the support of Communist members of parliament, support which his opponent, Jan Sokol, publicly refused to accept. Klaus denied the charge that he owed the Communists any debt for his election.

Vetos

Although Klaus regularly criticized Havel for having used his power to veto laws, and promised restraint, he exercises his veto more frequently than Havel, generally labeling vetoed bills as illiberal, 'dangerous' and a threat to the country. He vetoed the Anti-Discrimination Law passed by parliament in 2008, saying it's a dangerous threat to personal freedoms as well as the bill implementing EU's Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals policy claiming it to be burdensome for private enterprises.

Eurosceptic beliefs

Klaus's euroscepticism, perhaps along with his scepticism about anthropogenic climate change, is the defining policy position of his presidency. He claimed that accession to the Union represented a significant reduction of Czech sovereignty and he chose not to give any recommendation before the 2003 accession referendum (77% voted yes).

Klaus's eurosceptic activism has involved writing many articles and giving many speeches against any sharing of sovereignty with the EU. He secured the publication of a work by the Irish Eurosceptic Anthony Coughlan. In 2005 Klaus called for the EU to be "scrapped" and replaced by a free trade area to be called the "Organisation of European States." He also attacked the EU as undermining freedom and being as big a threat as the Soviet Union.

In 2005 he remarked to a group of visiting U.S. politicians that the EU was a "failed and bankrupt entity."

In November 2008 during his stay in Ireland after a state visit, he held a joint press conference with Declan Ganley, head of Libertas, which successfully campaigned for a No vote in the referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. Irish ministers called this "an inappropriate intervention", "unusual and disappointing".

Another incident happened on 5 December 2008. Members of the Conference of Presidents of the European Parliament visited the Czech Republic prior to the start of the Czech presidency of the European Union, and met Václav Klaus at Prague Castle. Daniel Cohn-Bendit, chairman of Green Group, brought a European flag and presented it to Klaus. Cohn-Bendit also said that he did not care about Klaus's opinions on the Treaty of Lisbon, that Klaus would simply have to sign it. Further, Brian Crowley told Klaus that the Irish wanted ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon and were insulted by Klaus's association with Declan Ganley and the lobby group Libertas. Klaus responded that "the biggest insult to the Irish people is not to accept the result of the referendum". Crowley replied, "You will not tell me what the Irish think. As an Irishman, I know it best." This visit was criticized by some in the media: "This bizarre confrontation...confirms the inability of the Euro-elite to accept that anyone holds different views from their own."

Eurozone

Klaus is a long-term opponent of centrally implemented economic policy of the EU and the euro as a common currency of the eurozone countries. At days of the 10th anniversary of the euro in 2008 he expressed his beliefs in the Financial Times article:

Lisbon treaty

Klaus long refused to sign the Lisbon treaty, being the last to give his signature. European leaders however made clear that they would not let Klaus "hold them hostage". Jan Fischer, Czech prime minister was confident Klaus will sign the treaty, saying: ''"There is no reason for anxiety in Europe. The question isn’t Yes or No, it’s only when.”'' of the ratification process.

As early as 2008 Klaus said, as he repeated in an interview with Czech television in November 2008: (in Czech original: ''"Já mohu nahlas opakovat jeden svůj výrok. Pokud by opravdu všichni se shodli, že Lisabonská smlouva je takové zlaté ořechové pro Evropu, že být musí, že je jedna jediná osoba, která by ji chtěla zablokovat, a tou osobou je český prezident, tak toto já neudělám. To je všechno."'')

On 3 November 2009, shortly after the Constitutional Court's verdict, Klaus signed the Lisbon treaty. However, there is a discussion whether he really holds the power to "dictate" his views upon the Czech society and politics:

Moreover, there is Art. 345 of the Treaty (same as Art. 295 of the Treaty establishing the European Community), which informed Czech politicians see as a guarantee that “no property disputes may be re-opened by the Treaty”. This Article holds that:

Russia and Russian energy companies

On some issues like energy policy, Klaus has sought cooperation with Russia.

In the 1990s, Klaus promoted Czech oil and gas agreements with Russia and opposed other energy sources. He wanted to block construction of a pipeline between the Czech Republic and Germany, which was to become the first non-Russian pipeline in the country. Also, according to two former Czech security service directors, when he was Prime Minister, the Czech security service warned him that Russian organized crime was spreading in the Czech economy. For example, in one scheme, oil was imported to the Czech Republic as cooking oil and resold as diesel, which allegedly made billions of dollars to Semion Mogilevich. In response to the warnings, Klaus threatened to disband the security service. Klaus was reportedly seen meeting SVR agents a number times after his corruption scandal in 1997.

''The Economist'' characterizes Klaus as one of Vladimir Putin's "warmest admirers abroad". Klaus received the 2007 Pushkin Medal for the promotion of Russian culture from Putin due to his use of Russian with Putin and with Russian diplomats. In Russia Klaus sees "challenges and successes, tremendous successes".

After the August 2008 South Ossetia war broke out, he blamed Georgia. It was later found out that, after the war, Russian energy company Lukoil paid for the translation into Russian and subsequent distribution of Klaus's books on global warming.

Klaus' former chief of staff is a director of CEEI, an energy company which was awarded a billion dollar contract by the government-owned CEZ Group. CEEI is believed to be controlled by Russia using a Liechtenstein front company U.B.I.E. and one of the other directors is in jail for kidnapping.

In a May 2009 interview for ''Lidové noviny'', Klaus said Russia was not a threat but still a big, strong and ambitious country which the Czech authorities should beware more than the likes of Estonia and Lithuania should.

In late November 2008 Klaus reportedly had a secret meeting with Putin's close confidant Vagit Alekperov, head of Lukoil. When asked about it, Klaus did not deny the reports. The government later awarded a contract to Lukoil which raises the country's already heavy energy dependence on Russia. Lukoil has reportedly also cultivated a number of other politicians including Milos Zeman, whose party has admitted taking money from Russian lobbyists. Milos Zeman's close partner Miroslav Slouf has been called the "Cardinal Richelieu of Czech politics". Slouf is a former communist party apparatchik turned lobbyist who has been filmed on numerous occasions entering and leaving buildings belonging to the Russian embassy. The Czech media have been documenting secret meetings between Slouf and Klaus's aide Jiri Weigl who reportedly asked Slouf to exert his influence within the Social Democratic Party to back the Klauss bid for re-election in February 2008.

Analysts have noted that Klaus's resistance to signing the Lisbon Treaty, despite being obligated to do so by Czech law, "put him in step with the Kremlin yet again, this time over one of Moscow's biggest foreign-policy goals: splitting European unity".

Kosovo

Klaus joined Russia to oppose NATO bombings of FR Yugoslavia during the Kosovo crisis.

Václav Klaus has many times voiced his disagreement with the unilateral Kosovo declaration of independence. During his visit to Slovakia in March 2008, Klaus categorically rejected the argument that Kosovo was a special case and said that it set a precedent as the countries recognizing Kosovo opened a Pandora's box in Europe that could have disastrous consequences, comparing it to the 1938 Munich treaty. When Serbia recalled its ambassador in protest of Czech government's recognition of Kosovo, he was invited to the Prague Castle for a friendly farewell. In his visit to Serbia in January 2011 he also stated that in time of his presidency Czech Republic will not appoint ambasador to Kosovo.

Re-election

The Czech Presidential election of 2008 differed from past ones in that the voting was on the record, rather than by secret ballot. This was a precondition demanded by most of the Czech political parties after the last experience, but long opposed by Klaus's Civic Democratic Party which had strengthened since 2003, already had the safe majority in the Senate even by itself and needed only to secure a few votes in the House for the third round.

Klaus's opponent was the former émigré, naturalized United States citizen and University of Michigan economics professor Jan Švejnar. He was nominated by Green Party as the pro-EU moderate candidate, gaining the support of the leading opposition Czech Social Democratic Party, a smaller part of KDU-ČSL and some independent Senators. The first ballot on 8–9 February 2008 resulted in no winner. Švejnar won the Chamber of Deputies, but Klaus led in the assembly as a whole and barely failed to achieve the requisite majority.

The second ballot on Friday 15 February 2008 brought a new candidate MEP Jana Bobošíková, nominated by the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia. However not drawing any wider support, she withdrew her candidacy before the election itself. The first and second rounds ended similarly to the previous weekend. However, Klaus consistently had 141 votes. Thus in the third round, where the only goal is to achieve a majority of all legislators present from both houses, Klaus won by the smallest possible margin. Švejnar received 111 votes, the 29 Communists voting for neither.

Klaus's first term as President concluded on Friday 7 March 2008; he took oath for the second term on the same day so as not to create a president-less interregnum since the Parliament could not otherwise come to a joint session before the following Tuesday. Thus, he lost the day of overlap and his second term will end on 6 March 2013.

Critic of anthropogenic global warming

Klaus is a vocal critic of the notion that any global warming is anthropogenic: "Global warming is a false myth and every serious person and scientist says so." and if it is, that globally coordinated government action is necessary. He has also criticized the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as a group of politicized scientists with one-sided opinions and one-sided assignments. He has said that other top-level politicians do not expose their doubts about global warming because "a whip of political correctness strangles their voices."

In addition he says, "Environmentalism should belong in the social sciences" along with other "isms" such as communism, feminism, and liberalism. Klaus said that "environmentalism is a religion" and, in an answer to the questions of the U.S. Congressmen, a "modern counterpart of communism" that seeks to change peoples' habits and economic systems.

In a June 2007 ''Financial Times'' article, Klaus called ambitious environmentalism "the biggest threat to freedom, democracy, the market economy and prosperity", hinted that parts of the present political and scientific debate on the environment are suppressing freedom and democracy, and asked for readers opposing the term "scientific consensus", saying that "it is always achieved only by a loud minority, never by a silent majority". In an online Q&A; session following the article he wrote "Environmentalism, not preservation of nature (and of environment), is a leftist ideology... Environmentalism is indeed a vehicle for bringing us socialist government at the global level. Again, my life in communism makes me oversensitive in this respect." He reiterated these statements at a showing of Martin Durkin's ''The Great Global Warming Swindle'' organised by his think tank CEP in June 2007, becoming the only head of state to endorse the film. In November 2007 BBC World's ''Hardtalk'' Klaus called the interviewer "absolutely arrogant" for claiming that a scientific consensus embracing the bulk of the world had been reached on climate change and said that he was "absolutely certain" that people would look back in 30 years and thank him.

At a September 2007 United Nations Climate Change Conference, Klaus spoke of his disbelief in global warming, calling for a second IPCC to be set up to produce competing reports, and for countries to be left alone to set their priorities and prepare their own plans for the problem.

In 2007, Klaus published a book titled ''Modrá, nikoli zelená planeta'' (literally "Blue planet – not green"). The book has been translated from the Czech into various languages. The title in English, which is not a direct translation, is "Blue Planet in Green Shackles". It claims that:

At the September 2009 UN Climate Change Conference, Klaus again voiced his disapproval, calling the gathering "propagandistic" and "undignified."

On July 26th 2011 at the National Press Club Address, Klaus pronounced himself yet again against global warming calling it "a communist conspiracy".

Other activities

In 1995, as Prime Minister, he applied for and was awarded the degree of Professor of Finance from his alma mater, so he is sometimes addressed as "Mr. Professor" as is customary in the Czech Republic. As the president, Klaus occasionally teaches a seminar course in economics at the University of Economics. The course focuses on Klaus's free-market concerns.

His defining issue since 1990 has been an enthusiasm for the free market economy as exemplified by Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman. According to Klaus, legislation and institutions cannot be created before economic transformation, they have to go hand in hand.

Since 1990, Václav Klaus has received nearly 50 honorary degrees, among them, one from Universidad Francisco Marroquín and published more than 20 books on various social, political, and economics subjects. Klaus is a member of the Mont Pelerin Society. He has published articles in the libertarian free-market ''Cato Journal''. On 28 May 2008, Klaus gave the keynote address at an annual dinner hosted by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a free market advocacy group in Washington, D.C., and received its Julian L. Simon Memorial Award.

Klaus became the foreign member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts in 2009.

Chilean pen incident

In April 2011, Klaus was seen taking a pen during a state visit to Chile. The "theft", caught on television cameras, was widely reported around the world and has been dubbed an "international event" causing a "diplomatic stir".

Australian Parliament House incident

In July 2011, during an unofficial visit to Canberra, the national capital of Australia, Klaus declined to pass through electronic security at the Australian Parliament House in order to be interviewed by ABC Television at its studio. Australian Broadcasting Corporation staff tried to convince security staff to allow the President to bypass security but they declined the request, and Klaus left the building. Klaus commented that it was not an issue of passing through the electronic security system, rather of handling the whole situation. Firstly, when he and his entourage arrived on time, nobody was expecting him. After waiting for ten minutes in front of the building, a worker of the ABC Television invited him in, where he was left "among perhaps as many as hundred school children". After a few minutes he found out that the whole group was waiting for a security clearance. Klaus refused to waste more time waiting in line behind the school children and offered ABC Television to conduct the interview in his hotel, which ABC declined as it was already set up for the interview in the Parliament House studio. Klaus' approach was further backed up by the president’s office head of protocol, Jindřich Forejt, who described his boss’ Australian treatment as “incredible.” Style-etiquette guru Ladislav Špaček further commented that "it is absolutely out of place to check a head of state; it is disrespectful. I am not at all surprised that Klaus turned around and went off. He should not be there trying to agree with some operative that he is not a terrorist."

Future plans

Klaus signalled his intention to increase his influence in Czech politics and hosted a series of meetings with ODS politicians intended to force Mirek Topolánek to resign from the leadership of the party and as Prime Minister. Klaus's candidate to replace him was Prague Mayor Pavel Bém who rose in the party due to Klaus's patronage.Bém, a psychiatrist by training, is personally close to Klaus. On Sunday 9 November 2008, Bém said that he believes that the ODS should oppose the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, signalling that Klaus's anti-EU line would prevail if Bém took over the party.

On 7 December 2008, Bém stood against Topolánek for the post of ODS chairman at the ODS party congress. Bém lost by 284 votes to 162, and was replaced as first deputy chairman for the ODS by David Vodrážka. Klaus had resigned as honorary ODS chairman the day before.

Personal life

Václav Klaus is married to Livia Rosamunda Klausová, a Slovak economist. They have two sons, Václav (a private secondary school headmaster) and Jan (an economist), and five grandchildren.

It has been claimed that Klaus has had several extramarital affairs. The first, in 1991, was with Eva Svobodová. In summer 2002, Klaus was photographed by a tabloid as having a "special relationship" with 24-year-old economy student Klára Lohniská. One paper claimed he spent the night after his second presidential inauguration (7 March 2008) with 25-year-old Petra Bednářová.

State Awards

Country	Awards	Date
	Decoration for Services to the Republic of Austria Grand Star
	Order of Vytautas the Great Grand Cross
	Order of the White Eagle (Poland)>Order of the White Eagle
	:ru:Медаль Пушкина>Medal of Pushkin
	:de:Sächsischer Verdienstorden>Saxon Merit Cross
	Order of Isabella the Catholic 1st Class

See also

Politics of global warming

References

External links

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFoYkWulKOI

Universidad Francisco Marroquín">Honorary Doctoral Degrees, Universidad Francisco Marroquín

Official personal pages – English section

Biography and selected speeches at the President's office

Luboš Motl: Klaus in an interview on Global Warming with ''Hospodářské noviny'', a Czech economics daily; February 2007

Facing a Challenge of the Current Era: Environmentalism, a Cato Institute policy forum featuring Václav Klaus

The Economist: Grumpy Uncle Vaclav, 4.12.2008

The New American: Czech Pres. Vaclav Klaus Enrages Eurocrats, 30.12.2008

Statement of President Václav Klaus on the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty – Official personal pages

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Category:1941 births Category:Living people Category:People from Prague Category:Classical liberals Category:Cornell University alumni Category:Current national leaders Category:Czech economists Category:Environmental skepticism Category:Critics of the European Union Category:Macroeconomists Category:Monetarists Category:Mont Pelerin Society members Category:Hussites Category:Members of the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic Category:Presidents of the Czech Republic Category:Prime Ministers of the Czech Republic Category:Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland) Category:Civic Democratic Party (Czech Republic) politicians Category:Members of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts

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Coordinates	56°09′″N40°25′″N
Name	Václav Havel
Office	1st President of the Czech Republic
Term start	2 February 1993
Term end	2 February 2003
Primeminister	Václav KlausJosef TošovskýMiloš ZemanVladimír Špidla
Predecessor	Position established
Successor	Václav Klaus
Office2	10th President of Czechoslovakia
Primeminister2	Marián ČalfaJan Stráský
Term start2	29 December 1989
Term end2	20 July 1992
Predecessor2	Gustáv Husák
Successor2	Position abolished
Birth date	October 05, 1936
Birth place	Prague, Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic)
Party	IndependentCivic Forum (1989-1993)
Spouse	Olga Šplíchalová (1964–1996)Dagmar Veškrnová (1997–present)
Alma mater	Czech Technical University in PragueFaculty of Theatre
Profession	Playwright
Signature	Vaclav Havel Signature.svg
Website	www.vaclavhavel.czwww.vaclavhavel-library.org }}

Václav Havel () (born 5 October 1936 in Czechoslovakia) is a Czech playwright, essayist, poet, dissident and politician. He was the tenth and last President of Czechoslovakia (1989–92) and the first President of the Czech Republic (1993–2003). He has written over twenty plays and numerous non-fiction works, translated internationally. He has received the US Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Philadelphia Liberty Medal, the Order of Canada, the freedom medal of the Four Freedoms Award, and the Ambassador of Conscience Award. He was also voted 4th in Prospect Magazine's 2005 global poll of the world's top 100 intellectuals. He is a founding signatory of the Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism.

Beginning in the 1960s, his work turned to focus on the politics of Czechoslovakia. After the Prague Spring, he became increasingly active. In 1977, his involvement with the human rights manifesto ''Charter 77'' brought him international fame as the leader of the opposition in Czechoslovakia; it also led to his imprisonment. The 1989 "Velvet Revolution" launched Havel into the presidency. In this role he led Czechoslovakia and later the Czech Republic to multi-party democracy. His thirteen years in office saw radical change in his nation, including its split with Slovakia, which Havel opposed, its accession into NATO and start of the negotiations for membership in the European Union, which was attained in 2004.

Biography

Václav Havel was born in Prague, on 5 October 1936. He grew up in a well-known and wealthy entrepreneurial and intellectual family, which was closely linked to the cultural and political events in Czechoslovakia from the 1920s to the 1940s. His father was the owner of the suburb Barrandov which was located on the highest point of Prague and of Barrandov film studios. Havel's mother came from a well known family; her father was an ambassador and well-known journalist. Because of Havel's bourgeois history, the Communist regime did not allow Havel to study formally after he had completed his required schooling in 1951. In the first part of the 1950s, the young Havel entered into a four-year apprenticeship as a chemical laboratory assistant and simultaneously took evening classes; he completed his secondary education in 1954. For political reasons, he was not accepted into any post-secondary school with a humanities program; therefore, he opted to study at the Faculty of Economics of Czech Technical University in Prague but dropped out after two years. In 1964, Havel married proletarian Olga Šplíchalová, much to the displeasure of his mother.

Early theater career

The intellectual tradition of his family compelled Václav Havel to pursue the humanitarian values of Czech culture. After military service (1957–59), he worked as a stagehand in Prague (at the Theater On the Balustrade - ''Divadlo Na zábradlí'') and studied drama by correspondence at the Theater Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (DAMU). His first publicly performed full-length play, besides various vaudeville collaborations, was ''The Garden Party'' (1963). Presented in a season of Theater of the Absurd, at the Balustrade, it won him international acclaim. It was soon followed by ''The Memorandum'', one of his best known plays, and the ''The Increased Difficulty of Concentration'', all at the Balustrade. In 1968, ''The Memorandum'' was also brought to The Public Theater in New York, which helped establish his reputation in the United States. The Public continued to produce his plays over the next years, although after 1968 his plays were banned in his own country, Havel was unable to leave Czechoslovakia to see any foreign performances.

Dissident

During the first week of the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, Havel provided a commentary on the events on Radio Free Czechoslovakia in Liberec. Following the suppression of the Prague Spring in 1968 he was banned from the theatre and became more politically active. He was forced to take a job in a brewery, an experience he wrote about in his play ''Audience''. This play, along with two other "Vaněk" plays (so-called because of the recurring character Ferdinand Vaněk, a stand in for Havel), became distributed in samizdat form across Czechoslovakia, and greatly added to Havel's reputation of being a leading revolutionary (several other Czech writers later wrote their own plays featuring Vaněk). This reputation was cemented with the publication of the ''Charter 77'' manifesto, written partially in response to the imprisonment of members of the Czech psychedelic band The Plastic People of the Universe. He also co-founded the Committee for the Defense of the Unjustly Persecuted in 1979. His political activities resulted in multiple stays in prison, the longest being four years, and also subjected him to constant government surveillance and questioning. His longest stay in prison, from June 1979 to January 1984, is documented in ''Letters to Olga'', his late wife.

He was also famous for his essays, most particularly for his articulation of “Post-Totalitarianism” (''Power of the Powerless''), a term used to describe the modern social and political order that enabled people to "live within a lie." A passionate supporter of non-violent resistance, a role in which he has been compared, by former US President Bill Clinton, to Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., he became a leading figure in the Velvet Revolution of 1989, the bloodless end to communism in Czechoslovakia.

His motto was "Truth and love must prevail over lies and hate."

Presidency

On 29 December 1989, while leader of the Civic Forum, he became president by a unanimous vote of the Federal Assembly. This was an ironic turn of fate for a man who had long insisted that he was uninterested in politics. He joined many dissidents of the period arguing that political change should happen through civic initiatives autonomous from the state, rather than through the state itself. He was awarded the Prize For Freedom of the Liberal International in 1990.

After the free elections of 1990 he retained the presidency. Despite increasing tensions, Havel supported the retention of the federation of the Czechs and the Slovaks during the breakup of Czechoslovakia. On 3 July 1992 the federal parliament did not elect Havel — the only candidate — due to a lack of support from Slovak MPs. The largest party, the Civic Democratic Party, let it be known it would not support any other candidate. After the Slovaks issued their Declaration of Independence, he resigned as president on 20 July, saying he would not preside over the country's breakup.

However, when the Czech Republic was created, he stood for election as president on 26 January 1993, and won. Unlike in Czechoslovakia, he was not the Czech Republic's chief executive. However, owing to his prestige, he still commanded a good deal of moral authority.

Although Havel has been quite popular throughout his career, his popularity abroad surpassed his popularity at home, and he was no stranger to controversy and criticism. An extensive general pardon, one of his first acts as a president, was an attempt to both lessen the pressure in overcrowded prisons and release those who may have been falsely imprisoned during the Communist era. He had felt that decisions of a corrupt court of the previous regime could not be trusted, and that most in prison had not been fairly tried. Critics claimed that this amnesty raised the crime rate. According to Havel's memoir ''To the Castle and Back'', most of those released had less than a year of their sentence to run. Statistics have not lent clear support to either claim.

In an interview with Karel Hvížďala (also included in ''To the Castle and Back''), Havel stated that he felt his most important accomplishment as president was the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact. This proved quite complicated, as the infrastructure created by the pact was so ingrained in the workings of the countries involved and indeed in their general consciousness. It took two years before the Soviet troops finally fully withdrew from Czechoslovakia.

Following a legal dispute with his sister-in-law, Havel decided to sell his 50% stake in the Lucerna Palace on Wenceslas Square, a legendary dance hall built by his grandfather Václav Havel. In a transaction arranged by Marián Čalfa, Havel sold the estate to Václav Junek, a former communist spy in France and leader of soon-to-be-bankrupt conglomerate Chemapol Group, who later openly admitted he bribed politicians of Czech Social Democratic Party.

In December 1996 the chain smoking Havel was diagnosed as having lung cancer. The disease reappeared two years later. He later quit smoking. In 1996, Olga, beloved by the Czech people and his wife of 32 years died of cancer. Less than a year later Havel remarried, to actress Dagmar Veškrnová.

The former political prisoner was instrumental in enabling the transition of NATO from being an anti-Warsaw Pact alliance to its present inclusion of former-Warsaw Pact members, like the Czech Republic. Havel advocated vigorously for the expansion of the military alliance into Eastern Europe, including the Czech Republic.

Havel was re-elected president in 1998. He had to undergo a colostomy in Innsbruck when his colon ruptured while on holiday in Austria. Havel left office after his second term as Czech president ended on 2 February 2003; Václav Klaus, one of his greatest political opponents, was elected his successor on 28 February 2003. Margaret Thatcher writes of the two men in her foreign policy treatise, ''Statecraft'', reserving greater respect for Havel, whose dedication to democracy and defying the Communists earned her admiration.

Post-presidential career

Since 1997, Havel has hosted a conference entitled ''Forum 2000''. In 2005, the former President occupied the Kluge Chair for Modern Culture at the John W. Kluge Center of the United States Library of Congress, where he continued his research in human rights. In November and December 2006, Havel spent eight weeks as a visiting artist in residence at Columbia University. The stay was sponsored by the Columbia Arts Initiative and featured "performances, and panels center[ing] on his life and ideas", including a public "conversation" with former U.S. President Bill Clinton. Concurrently, the Untitled Theater Company #61 launched a Havel Festival, the first complete festival of his plays in various venues throughout New York City, including The Brick Theater and the Ohio Theatre, in celebration of his 70th birthday.

Havel's memoir of his experience as President, ''To the Castle and Back'', was published in May 2007. The book mixes an interview in the style of ''Disturbing the Peace'' with actual memoranda he sent to his staff with modern diary entries and recollections.

On 4 August 2007, Havel met with members of the Belarus Free Theatre at his summer cottage in the Czech Republic in a show of his continuing support, which has been instrumental in the theatre's attaining international recognition and membership in the European Theatrical Convention.

Havel's first new play in over 18 years, ''Leaving'' (''Odcházení''), was published in November 2007, and was to have had its world premiere in June 2008 at the Prague theater Divadlo na Vinohradech, but the theater withdrew it in December. The play instead premiered on 22 May 2008 at the Archa Theatre to standing ovations. Havel based the play on ''King Lear'', by William Shakespeare, and on ''The Cherry Orchard'', by Anton Chekhov; "Chancellor Vilém Rieger is the central character of ''Leaving'', who faces a crisis after being removed from political power." The play had its English language premiere at the Orange Tree Theatre in London and its American premiere at The Wilma Theater in Philadelphia. Havel subsequently directed a film version of the play, which premiered in the Czech Republic on March 22, 2011.

Other new works include the short sketch ''Pět Tet'', a modern sequel to ''Unveiling'', and ''The Pig, or Václav Havel's Hunt for a Pig'', which was premiered in Brno at Theatre Goose on a String and had its English language premiere in June 2011 at the 3LD Art & Technology Center in New York, in a production from Untitled Theater Company #61.

In 2008 Havel became Member of the European Council on Tolerance and Reconciliation, an NGO designed to monitor tolerance in Europe and to prepare practical recommendations on fighting anti-Semitism, racism and xenophobia on the continent.

Havel met with U. S. President Barack Obama at the European Union (EU) and United States (US) summit in Prague on 5 April 2009. He had written Obama a letter inviting the president to come to Prague.

Havel is the chair of the International Council of the Human Rights Foundation, and a member of the international advisory council of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation.

Awards

On 4 July 1994, Václav Havel was awarded the Philadelphia Liberty Medal. In his acceptance speech, he said: "The idea of human rights and freedoms must be an integral part of any meaningful world order. Yet I think it must be anchored in a different place, and in a different way, than has been the case so far. If it is to be more than just a slogan mocked by half the world, it cannot be expressed in the language of departing era, and it must not be mere froth floating on the subsiding waters of faith in a purely scientific relationship to the world." In 1997, he was the recipient of the Prix mondial Cino Del Duca.

In 2002, he was the third recipient of the Hanno R. Ellenbogen Citizenship Award presented by the Prague Society for International Cooperation. In 2003, he was awarded the International Gandhi Peace Prize, named after Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi by the government of India for his outstanding contribution towards world peace and upholding human rights in most difficult situations through Gandhian means. In 2003, Havel was the inaugural recipient of Amnesty International's Ambassador of Conscience Award for his work in promoting human rights. In 2003, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In January 2008, the Europe-based ''A Different View'' cited Havel to be one of the 15 Champions of World Democracy. Other champions mentioned were Nelson Mandela, Lech Wałęsa, and Corazon Aquino. As a former Czech President, Havel is a member of the Club of Madrid. In 2009 he was awarded the Quadriga Award, but decided to return it in 2011 following the announcement of Vladimir Putin as one of the 2011 award recipients.

Havel has also received multiple honorary doctorates from various universities.

In 1993, he was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

State awards

Order of the Liberator San Martin CollarAustrian Decoration for Science and ArtOrder of the Southern Cross Grand Collar:pt:Ordem de Rio BrancoOrder of Canada Honorary CompanionOrder of the White Lion 1st Class (Civil Division) with Collar ChainOrder of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk 1st ClassOrder of the Cross of Terra Mariana The Collar of the CrossLégion d'honneur Grand CrossOrdre des Arts et des LettresOrder of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Special class of the Grand Cross:hu:A Magyar Köztársasági Érdemrend nagykeresztje a lánccalGandhi Peace PrizeOrder of Merit of the Italian Republic Grand Cross with CordonOrder of the Star of JordanOrder of the Three Stars Grand Cross with CollarOrder of Vytautas the Great Grand CrossOrder of the White Eagle (Poland)Order of Liberty Grand CollarOrder of Brilliant Star with Special Grand Cordon:sk:Rad Bieleho dvojkríža:sl:Častni znak svobode Republike SlovenijeOrder of Isabella the Catholic Grand Cross with CollarNational Decoration of Republic of TurkeyOrder of Yaroslav the WiseOrder of the Bath Knight Grand Cross(Civil Division)Presidential Medal of FreedomMedal of the Republic

Country	Awards	Date
	|	09/1996	Buenos Aires
	Decoration for Science and Art||	11/2005	Vienna
	Order of Rio Branco Grand Cross||	10/199009/1996	PragueBrasília
	|	03/2004	Prague
	|	10/2003	Prague
	|	04/1996	Tallinn
	Order of Arts and Letters Commander||	03/199002/2001	Paris
	|	05/2000	Berlin
	Order of Merit of Hungary Grand Cross with Chain||	09/2001	Prague
	|	08/2003	Delhi
	|	04/2002	Rome
	Order of Hussein ibn' Ali Collar||	09/1997	Amman
	|	08/1999	Prague
	|	09/1999	Prague
	Order of the White Eagle||	10/1993	Warsaw
	|	12/1990	Lisbon
	|	11/2004	Taipei
	Order of the White Double Cross||	01/2003	Bratislava
	The Golden honorary Medal of Freedom||	11/1993	Ljubljana
	|	07/1995	Prague
	|	10/2000	Ankara
	|	10/2006	Prague
	|	03/1996	Prague
	|	07/2003	Washington D.C.
	|	09/1996	Montevideo

Works

Collections of poetry

Čtyři rané básně (''Four Early Poems'')

Záchvěvy I & II, 1954 (''Quivers I & II'')

První úpisy, 1955 (''First promissory notes'')

Prostory a časy, 1956 (''Spaces and times'', poetry)

Na okraji jara (cyklus básní), 1956 (''At the edge of spring (poetry cycle)'')

Antikódy, 1964 (''Anticodes'')

Plays

Motormorphosis 1960

Hitchhiking (''Autostop'') 1960

An Evening with the Family, 1960, (''Rodinný večer'')

''The Garden Party'' (''Zahradní slavnost''), 1963

The Memorandum, 1965, (''Vyrozumění'')

The Increased Difficulty of Concentration, 1968, (''Ztížená možnost soustředění'')

Butterfly on the Antenna, 1968, (''Motýl na anténě'')

Guardian Angel, 1968, (''Strážný anděl'')

Conspirators, 1971, (''Spiklenci'')

The Beggar's Opera, 1975, (''Žebrácká opera'')

Unveiling, 1975, (''Vernisáž'')

Audience, 1975, (''Audience'') - a Vanӗk play

Mountain Hotel 1976, (''Horský hotel'')

Protest, 1978, (''Protest'') - a Vanӗk play

Mistake, 1983, (''Chyba'') - a Vanӗk play

Largo desolato 1984, (''Largo desolato'')

Temptation, 1985, (''Pokoušení'')

Redevelopment, 1987, (''Asanace'')

Tomorrow, 1988, (''Zítra to spustíme'')

''Leaving'' (''Odcházení''), 2007

''Dozens of Cousins'' (''Pět Tet''), 2009 - a short sketch/sequel to ''Unveiling''

''The Pig, or Václav Havel's Hunt for a Pig'' (''Prase''), 2009 - based on a text from 1987, adapted by Valdímir Morávek in 2009

Non-fiction books

''The Power of the Powerless'' (1985) [Includes 1978 titular essay.]

''Living in Truth'' (1986)

''Letters to Olga'' (Dopisy Olze) (1988)

''Disturbing the Peace'' (1991)

''Open Letters'' (1991)

''Summer Meditations'' (1992/93)

''Towards a Civil Society'' (Letní přemítání) (1994)

''The Art of the Impossible'' (1998)

''To the Castle and Back'' (2007)

Fiction books

''Pizh'duks''

Films

''Odcházení'', 2011

Cultural allusions and interests

Havel was a major supporter of The Plastic People of the Universe, becoming a close friend of its members, such as its leader Milan Hlavsa, its manager Ivan Martin Jirous and guitarist/vocalist Paul Wilson (who later became Havel's English translator and biographer) and a great fan of the rock band The Velvet Underground, sharing mutual respect with the principal singer-songwriter Lou Reed, and is also a lifelong Frank Zappa fan. Havel is also a great supporter and fan of jazz and frequented such Prague clubs as Radost FX and the Reduta Jazz Club, where President Bill Clinton played the saxophone when Havel brought him there.

The period involving Havel's role in the Velvet Revolution and his ascendancy to the presidency is dramatized in part in the play ''Rock 'n' Roll'', by Czech-born English playwright Tom Stoppard. One of the characters in the play is called Ferdinand, in honor of Ferdinand Vaněk, the protagonist of three of Havel's plays and a Havel stand-in.

In 1996, due to his contributions to the arts, he was honorably mentioned in the rock opera Rent during the song La Vie Boheme, though his name was mispronounced on the original soundtrack.

Samuel Beckett's 1982 short play "Catastrophe" was dedicated to Havel while he was held as a political prisoner in Czechoslovakia.

See also

Barrandov Terraces

Charter 77

Civil resistance

Hrad

Humanitarian bombing, a term ascribed to Havel

Nonviolent resistance

Ptydepe and Chorukor

Seoul Peace Prize

Velvet revolution

References

Further reading

;Works by Václav Havel

Commentaries and Op-eds by Václav Havel and in conjunction between Václav Havel and other renowned world leaders for ''Project Syndicate''.

"Excerpts from ''The Power of the Powerless'' (1978)", by Václav Havel. ["Excerpts from the Original Electronic Text provided by Bob Moeller, of the University of California, Irvine."]

"The Need for Transcendence in the Postmodern World" (Speech). ''worldtrans.org'' n.d. Accessed 21 December 2007.

Václav Havel: 'We are at the beginning of momentous changes'. ''Czech.cz'' (Official website of the Czech Republic), 10 September 2007. Accessed 21 December 2007. [On personal responsibility, freedom and ecological problems].

Two Messages Václav Havel on the Kundera affaire, English, salon.eu.sk, October 2008

;Media interviews with Václav Havel

After the Velvet, an Existential Revolution? dialogue between Václav Havel and Adam Michnik, English, salon.eu.sk, November 2008

Warner, Margaret. Online Focus: Newsmaker: Václav Havel". ''The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer''. PBS, broadcast 16 May 1997. Accessed 21 December 2007. (NewsHour transcript.)

;Books (Biographies)

Keane, John. ''Vaclav Havel: A Political Tragedy in Six Acts''. New York: Basic Books, 2000. ISBN 0465037194. (A sample chapter [in HTML and PDF formats] is linked on the author's website, "Books".)

Kriseová, Eda. ''Vaclav Havel''. Trans. Caleb Crain. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1993. ISBN 0312103174.

Pontuso, James F. ''Vaclav Havel: Civic Responsibility in the Postmodern Age''. New York: Rowman & Littlefield, 2004. ISBN 0-7425-2256-3.

Rocamora, Carol. ''Acts of Courage''. New York: Smith & Kraus, 2004. ISBN 1575253445.

Symynkywicz, Jeffrey. ''Vaclav Havel and the Velvet Revolution''. Parsippany, New Jersey: Dillon Press, 1995. ISBN 0875186076.

External links

Václav Havel Official website

Václav Havel archive from ''The New York Review of Books''

"Havel at Columbia: Bibliography: Human Rights Archive

Havel Festival

The Committee for the Defence of the Unjustly Persecuted (VONS) (Website about a history of the VONS)

Václav Havel at the Literary Encyclopedia

Notable Names Database

Václav Havel Official Digital Archive

Václav Havel Library, Prague

|-

Category:1936 births Category:Living people Category:Austrian State Prize for European Literature winners Category:Charter 77 signatories Category:Commandeurs of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Category:Companions of the Order of Canada Category:Czech dramatists and playwrights Category:Czech politicians Category:Czechoslovak democracy activists Category:Czechoslovak prisoners and detainees Category:Erasmus Prize winners Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Category:Grand Collars of the Order of the Southern Cross Category:Grand Crosses Special Class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Category:Honorary Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Category:Karlspreis recipients Category:Language creators Category:Lung cancer survivors Category:Olof Palme Prize laureates Category:People from Prague Category:Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients Category:Presidents of Czechoslovakia Category:Presidents of the Czech Republic Category:Prisoners and detainees of Czechoslovakia Category:Prix mondial Cino Del Duca winners Category:Recipients of the Collar of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana Category:Recipients of the Gandhi Peace Prize Category:Recipients of the Gottlieb Duttweiler Prize Category:Recipients of the Indira Gandhi Peace Prize Category:Recipients of the Order of the Three Stars, 1st Class Category:Recipients of the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade Category:Theatre of the Absurd Category:Collars of the Order of the White Lion Category:Recipients of the Order of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk

ar:فاتسلاف هافيل az:Vatslav Havel be:Вацлаў Гавел be-x-old:Вацлаў Гавэл bcl:Vaclav Havel bg:Вацлав Хавел ca:Václav Havel cs:Václav Havel da:Václav Havel de:Václav Havel et:Václav Havel el:Βάτσλαβ Χάβελ es:Václav Havel eo:Václav Havel eu:Václav Havel fa:واتسلاو هاول fr:Václav Havel ga:Václav Havel gl:Václav Havel ko:바츨라프 하벨 hsb:Václav Havel hr:Václav Havel io:Václav Havel id:Václav Havel it:Václav Havel he:ואצלב האוול ka:ვაცლავ ჰაველი ku:Václav Havel la:Venceslaus Havel lb:Václav Havel lt:Václav Havel lmo:Václav Havel hu:Václav Havel mk:Вацлав Хавел mr:वाक्लाव हावेल nl:Václav Havel ja:ヴァーツラフ・ハヴェル no:Václav Havel nn:Václav Havel oc:Václav Havel pl:Václav Havel pt:Václav Havel ro:Václav Havel qu:Václav Havel ru:Гавел, Вацлав sq:Václav Havel scn:Václav Havel simple:Václav Havel sk:Václav Havel sl:Václav Havel sr:Вацлав Хавел fi:Václav Havel sv:Václav Havel tr:Václav Havel uk:Вацлав Гавел vi:Václav Havel yo:Václav Havel zh-yue:哈維爾 zh:瓦茨拉夫·哈维尔

Jiří Bělohlávek (born 24 February 1946) is a Czech conductor. His father was a barrister and judge. In his youth, he studied cello with Miloš Sádlo. Bělohlávek is a graduate of the Prague Conservatory and Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. He also studied conducting with Sergiu Celibidache for two years.

Career in Czechoslovakia/Czech Republic

Bělohlávek won the Czech National Conducting Competition in 1970. He later served as an assistant conductor at the Czech Philharmonic for 2 years. From 1972 to 1978 he was associated with the Brno Philharmonic, taking it on tours of Austria, Germany and the United States. From 1977 to 1989, he was chief conductor of the Prague Symphony Orchestra.

Bělohlávek became chief conductor of the Czech Philharmonic in 1990. However, in 1991, the orchestra reorganized and controversially voted to appoint Gerd Albrecht its new principal conductor to replace Bělohlávek. Instead of remaining until Albrecht's accession, Bělohlávek resigned from the Czech Philharmonic in 1992. He subsequently founded the Prague Philharmonia ''(Pražskou komorní filharmonii)'' in 1993, after the Czech Ministry of Defence had offered funding for training 40 young musicians. Bělohlávek had auditioned musicians for the orchestra, but the ministry withdrew its funding the next year. He subsequently secured private funding for the orchestra, and served as its first music director. Since the orchestra's public debut in 1994, he has recorded and performed in concerts worldwide with the orchestra. He conducted the Prague Philharmonia at its first BBC Proms appearance in 2004, in a televised performance. In 2005, he relinquished his post with the Prague Philharmonia, and now is the orchestra's conductor laureate.

In 1997, Bělohlávek became a professor of conducting at the Academy of Music, Prague. He became principal guest conductor of the opera company of the ''Národní divadlo'' (National Theatre), Prague in 1998. He is also currently chairman of the Prague Spring International Music Festival.

On 22 December 2010 his return as Chief Conductor of the Czech Philharmonic from September 2012 was announced in Prague.

Career outside the Czech Republic

From 1995-2000, Bělohlávek was principal guest conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra (BBC SO). In February 2005, he was named its twelfth chief conductor, effective July 2006, with an initial contract of 3 years. Bělohlávek is the first past BBC SO principal guest conductor to be named chief conductor of the BBC SO. His tenure with the BBC SO began with the First Night of the 2006 Proms. He first conducted the Last Night of the Proms in 2007, the first conductor of the Last Night who is not a native English speaker. In September 2007, Bělohlávek extended his contract with the BBC Symphony to 2012. He made a guest appearance at the 2009 Last Night as one of the vacuum cleaner performers in Malcolm Arnold's ''A Grand, Grand Overture''. Bělohlávek conducted the Last Night of the Proms again in 2010.

In opera, Bělohlávek has conducted ''Jenůfa'', ''Tristan und Isolde'' and ''Rusalka'' at Glyndebourne Opera. He made his Metropolitan Opera (Met) debut on December 17, 2004 conducting ''Káťa Kabanová'', with Karita Mattila in the title role. He returned to the Met in January and February 2007 for ''Jenůfa'' and again in February and March 2009 for ''Eugene Onegin'' and ''Rusalka''.

Bělohlávek has recorded for the Supraphon, Chandos, harmonia mundi, and Warner Classics labels.

References

External links

Jiří Bělohlávek official home page

IMG Artists agency biography of Jiří Bělohlávek

BBC Symphony Orchestra biography of Jirí Belohlávek

Prague Philharmonic biography of Jirí Belohlávek

Category:1946 births Category:Czech conductors (music) Category:Czech musicians Category:Living people Category:BBC Symphony Orchestra Category:People from Prague Category:Prague Conservatory alumni Category:Recipients of Medal of Merit (Czech Republic)

cs:Jiří Bělohlávek de:Jiří Bělohlávek fr:Jiří Bělohlávek he:ייז'י בלוהלאווק ja:イルジー・ビエロフラーヴェク pt:Jiří Bělohlávek simple:Jiří Bělohlávek fi:Jiří Bělohlávek

Coordinates	56°09′″N40°25′″N
Name	Ewa Farna
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Ewa Farna
Born	August 12, 1993Třinec, Czech Republic
Instrument	Vocals, drums, keyboards
Genre	Pop rock, Pop
Occupation	Singer, lyricist
Years active	2006–present
Label	Universal Music Group
Website	www.ewafarna.cz www.ewafarna.pl }}

Ewa Farna (born 12 August 1993) is a Polish pop rock singer from the Czech Republic. She was born in Třinec, and belongs to the Polish minority in the Czech Republic. Farna released three studio albums with Czech lyrics, which sold platinum in the Czech Republic and were later re-recorded and released with Polish lyrics. Farna is the youngest commercially successful singer in the Czech Republic. She is set to perform at the 2010 Teen Choice Awards with her new English single.

Biography

Ewa Farna was born on 12 August 1993 in Třinec, Czech Republic. During her childhood she attended Polish Elementary School in Vendryně (Wędrynia) and art school for five years playing piano and a dance school. Farna first attracted attention after winning local talent competitions in both Czech Republic and Poland in 2004 and 2005. After being discovered by producer Lešek Wronka, she released her debut album ''Měls mě vůbec rád'' in 2006. This was followed by her gaining the "Revelation of the Year" award in the 2006 "Český slavík" () national music poll. Her second album ''Ticho'', which peaked at number two in the Czech Republic, and the Polish version of her debut, under the title ''Sam na Sam'', were released in 2007. After a tour, the concert DVD ''Blíž ke hvězdám'' became the best selling music DVD of 2008 in the Czech Republic. In early 2009, the Polish version of her second album was released as ''Cicho''.

The new album ''Virtuální'' was released on 26 October 2009, and her 2009–2010 tour Buď Virtuální started on 3 November 2009 in Brno and the national leg of the tour closed in Prague on 6 December 2009. The international leg of the tour also covers Poland and Slovakia.

Discography and charts

Albums

{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" border="1" |+ List of albums, with selected chart positions and certifications ! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:13em;"| Title ! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:21em;"| Album details ! scope="col" colspan="2" style="width:5em;"| Peak chart positions ! scope="col" rowspan="2"| Certifications |- ! scope="col" style="width:2.2em;font-size:90%;"| CZ ! scope="col" style="width:2.2em;font-size:90%;"| PL |- ! scope="row" | ''Měls mě vůbec rád'' |style="text-align:left;"|

Released: 6 November 2006

Label: Universal Music Czech Republic

Formats: CD

| 3 | — |style="text-align:left;"|

CZ: Platinum

|- ! scope="row" | ''Ticho'' |style="text-align:left;"|

Released: 1 October 2007

Label: Universal Music Czech Republic

Formats: CD

| 2 | — |style="text-align:left;"|

CZ: Platinum

|- |- ! scope="row" | ''Sam na sam'' |style="text-align:left;"|

Released: 9 November 2007

Label: Universal Music Poland

Formats: CD

| — | 70 |style="text-align:left;"| |- |- ! scope="row" | ''Blíž ke hvězdám'' |style="text-align:left;"|

Released: 10 November 2008

Label: Universal Music Czech Republic

Formats: CD + DVD

| 4 | — |style="text-align:left;"| |- |- ! scope="row" | ''Cicho'' |style="text-align:left;"|

Released: 9 March 2009

Label: Magic Records

Formats: CD

| — | 16 |style="text-align:left;"| PL: Platinum |- |- ! scope="row" | ''Virtuální'' |style="text-align:left;"|

Released: 26 October 2009

Label: Universal Music Czech Republic

Formats: CD, digital download

| 3 | — |style="text-align:left;"| |- |- ! scope="row" | ''Ewakuacja'' |style="text-align:left;"|

Released: 5 November 2010

Label: Magic Records

Formats: CD

| — | 8 |style="text-align:left;"| PL: Platinum |- |}

Singles

+ List of singles, with selected chart positions and certifications	Title	Year	Peak chart positions					Album
CZ Official			CZ Airplay	!width="25"	SK Official	SK Airplay
"Měls mě vůbec rád"	2006	3	3	—	—	—
"Zapadlej krám"		7	24	—	32	76
"Ticho"	3	15	—	13	35
"La la laj" (Czech version)	2	8	—	27	—
"Tam gdzie nie ma dróg"	—	—	14	—	—
"Kotka na gorącym dachu"	—	—	—	—	—
"Jaký to je"		2	7	—	—	—
"Cicho"		—	—	14	—	—
"Dmuchawce, latawce, wiatr"	—	—	12	—	—
"Toužím"	14	14	—	—	—
"Ty jsi král"	—	32	—	—	—
"La la laj" (Polish version)		—	—	5	—	—
"Maska"	57	7	—	—	—
"Ewakuacja"	—	—	1	—	—
"Bez łez"		—	—	4	—	—

Other charted songs

+ List of songs, with selected chart positions	Title	Year	Peak chart positions			Album/single
CZ Official			CZ Airplay	!width="25"
"Oto ja" with Jakub Molęda		—	—	—
"Stejný cíl mám dál" with Jan Bendig		8	64	—

Awards

;2004

1st place in the regional singing contest in Frýdek-Místek

;2005

1st place in the European Youth Festival in Poland

;2006

1st place in the Polish television singing contest: Szansa na sukces (Chance for Success)

Český slavík: "Revelation of the year"

;2007

RGM Music prize from TV Óčko: "Revelation of the year“

Album Of The Year: Best-Selling Debut of 2006: ''Měls mě vůbec rád''

Rock&Pop; Magazine: "Revelation of the year"

Anděl 2006: nomination for "Revelation of the year" award

Platinum certification for the debut ''Měls mě vůbec rád'' with over 20 thousand copies sold

Jetix Kids Awards: Best Singer

Český slavík: 4th place in the female singer category

Platinum certification for ''Ticho''

;2008

Anděl 2007: 3rd place in the female singer category

Týtý: 3rd place in the female singer category

Jetix Kids Awards: Most Favorite Singer

Český slavík: 3rd place in the female singer category

''Srebrne Spinki'' award given by the General Consul of the Polish Republic in Ostrava for musical successes and promoting Polish minority from Zaolzie. ;2009 1st place in Opole Festival (Superjedynki): Album of the year – "Cicho" 1st place in Sopot Hit Festival: Polish Hit of Summer – "Cicho"

Album Of The Year: Best-Selling DVD: Blíž ke hvězdám

Anděl 2008: Female singer of the year nomination

Polish best singer nomination for MTV Europe Music Awards

1st place in Best Female Singer in Musiq1 Television Awards (Slovakia)

Český slavík: 3rd place in the female singer category

;2010

2nd place in Music category – Telekamery Awards 2010 (Poland)

Winner in Pop Music category – Best Artist 2009 – Miasto Muzyki Website (Poland)

3rd place in Singer Female of the Year 2009 – Bravoora 2009 Awards (Poland)

Winner of Zlote Dzioby 2009 – Revelation of the Year – RadioWawa Awards (Poland)

1st place in Artist of the Year and 1st place in Hit of the Year ("Cicho") – Viva Comet Awards 2010 (Poland)

Eska Music Awards- Winner in Hit of the year (Cicho)

;2011

3nd place in Music category – Telekamery Awards 2011 (Poland)

1st place in Charts Award (Ewakuacja), Image of the year, Video of the year (Ewakuacja), Album of the year (Ewakuacja)– Viva Comet Awards 2011 (Poland)

Eska Music Awards- Winner in Hit of the year (Ewakuacja)

Eska Music Awards- Artist of the year

Eska Music Awards- Winner in Digital Hit of the year (Ewakuacja)

References

External links

Ewa Farna official website Ewa Farna official fanclub Ewa Farna official forum Ewa Farna official website Ewa Farna official concerts channel Ewa Farna official YouTube channel Ewa Farna official Facebook page

Category:1993 births Category:Czech female singers Category:Czech pop singers Category:Living people Category:Polish female singers Category:People from Třinec Category:Polish Lutherans Category:Polish people from Zaolzie Category:Polish pop singers Category:Polish rock singers Category:Polish singers

cs:Ewa Farna de:Ewa Farna es:Ewa Farna fa:اوا فارنا fr:Ewa Farna it:Ewa Farna mk:Ева Фарна pl:Ewa Farna pt:Ewa Farna sk:Ewa Farna fi:Ewa Farna