Miloš Zeman (Czech pronunciation: [ˈmɪloʃ ˈzɛman] ( listen); born 28 September 1944 in Kolín) is a well-known Czech politician. He was a member and leader of the Czech Social Democratic Party, former speaker of the chamber of deputies (lower house of the Czech parliament) from 1996 until 1998, and the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic from 1998 until 2002. He was a frequent rival of Václav Klaus. Zeman transformed a weak Czech Social Democratic Party into one of the country's major parties along with the Civic Democratic Party.

He was replaced by Vladimír Špidla as party leader. Zeman then retired and moved to live in the countryside (Vysočina Region). His nomination for Czech president failed six months later (to Václav Klaus) due to party disunity. Zeman became an outspoken critic of former party's leaders.

He is known for his sharp, even insulting, speeches and wit. The Czech economy became stronger during his tenure as prime minister.

He left the Czech Social Democratic Party on 21 March 2007 due to conflicts with the current leader and chairman of the Czech Social Democratic Party Jiří Paroubek. During a visit of President Klaus in Zeman's countryside home in September 2007, Zeman agreed with Klaus that human activity probably could not influence global warming.

Václav Klaus (Czech pronunciation: [ˈvaːtslaf ˈklaus]; born 19 June 1941 in Prague) is the second President of the Czech Republic (since 2003) and a former Prime Minister (1992–1997).

An economist, Klaus was the principal 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".

Klaus was born in Prague during the Nazi occupation, and grew up in the large (up to 1948 middle-class) Vinohrady neighborhood. He studied what was then called "economics of foreign trade" and graduated from the University of Economics, Prague in 1963. He also spent some time at universities in Italy (1966) and at Cornell University in the United States in 1969.

He then pursued a postgraduate academic career at the State Institute of Economics of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, which he was forced to leave in 1970. However, he soon obtained a position in the Czechoslovak State Bank, where he held various staff positions from 1971 to 1986. It was reported that he obtained a limited permission to travel mainly to so-called socialist foreign countries. This might have been a small privilege at that time. In 1987, Klaus joined the Institute for Prognostics of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences.

Karel Schwarzenberg (Czech pronunciation: [ˈkarɛl ˈʃvartsn̩bɛrk]) or Karel, Prince of Schwarzenberg (born Karl Johannes Nepomuk Joseph Norbert Friedrich Antonius Wratislaw Menas), 12. Fürst zu Schwarzenberg (First Majorat) and 7. Fürst zu Schwarzenberg (Second Majorat), Herzog von Krummau on 10 December 1937 in Prague, Czechoslovakia), is a politician of the Czech Republic, the leader of TOP 09 party and the current Minister of Foreign Affairs of the country. He took office as Foreign Minister in July 2010, and also occupied the position from 2007 to 2009. Prince Schwarzenberg is a member of the high nobility of Bohemia and also the current head of the House of Schwarzenberg since 1979.

He is a former Senator from Prague. In May 2010, he was elected a member of the Chamber of Deputies, gaining the largest number of Preference votes.

Karel Schwarzenberg is the eldest son of Prince Karl VI of Schwarzenberg of the junior line (Second Majorat of the House of Schwarzenberg), and Princess Antonie von Fürstenberg. He is also the 1,322nd Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece of Austria. He is first cousin of Ira and Egon von Fürstenberg and second cousin of Rainier III, Prince of Monaco.

Václav Havel (Czech pronunciation: [ˈvaːt͡slaf ˈɦavɛl] ( listen); 5 October 1936 – 18 December 2011) was a Czech playwright, essayist, poet, dissident and politician.

Havel was the ninth and last president of Czechoslovakia (1989–1992) and the first president of the Czech Republic (1993–2003). He wrote more than 20 plays and numerous non-fiction works, translated internationally.

Havel was voted 4th in Prospect magazine's 2005 global poll of the world's top 100 intellectuals. At the time of his death he was Chairman of the New York-based Human Rights Foundation. He was the founder of the VIZE 97 Foundation and the principal organizer of the Forum 2000 annual global conference.

Havel was one of the signatories of the Charter 77 manifesto, a founding signatory of the Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism, and a council member of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation. Havel received many recognitions, including the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Gandhi Peace Prize, the Philadelphia Liberty Medal, the Order of Canada, the freedom medal of the Four Freedoms Award, and the Ambassador of Conscience Award.