Bohuslav Sobotka

Bohuslav Sobotka
Prime Minister of the Czech Republic
Incumbent
Assumed office
29 January 2014
President Miloš Zeman
Deputy Andrej Babiš
Pavel Bělobrádek
Preceded by Jiří Rusnok
Leader of the Social Democratic Party
Incumbent
Assumed office
29 May 2010
Acting: 29 May 2010 – 21 March 2011
Preceded by Jiří Paroubek
In office
26 April 2005 – 13 May 2006
Acting
Preceded by Stanislav Gross
Succeeded by Jiří Paroubek
Minister of Finance
In office
12 July 2002 – 4 September 2006
Prime Minister Vladimír Špidla
Stanislav Gross
Jiří Paroubek
Preceded by Jiří Rusnok
Succeeded by Vlastimil Tlustý
Personal details
Born 23 October 1971
Telnice, Czechoslovakia
(now Czech Republic)
Political party Social Democratic Party
Spouse(s) Olga Pekárková
Children David
Martin
Alma mater Masaryk University
Religion Roman Catholicism
Website bohuslavsobotka.cz

Bohuslav Sobotka (Czech pronunciation: [ˈboɦuslaf ˈsobotka]; born 23 October 1971 in Telnice) is a Czech politician who has been chairman of Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD) since 2011 and the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic since 2014.

Youth

He comes from Telnice. His family moved to Slavkov u Brna in the early 1980s. There he completed Primary School Tyršova. He studied on Gymnasium Bučovice from 1986 to 1990. He was student of Masaryk University and gained a Magister degree of Law.

Political career

Sobotka was first elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1996.[1] From 2002 to 2006, he was Finance Minister of the Czech Republic.[1] Sobotka was also a Deputy Prime Minister from 2003 to 2004 and from 2005 to 2006.

Minister of Finance

As a minister he formed an advisory body of economists. It later became National Economic Council of Czech government. His austerity policy included dismissal of employees and restrictions on building savings and health benefits. The same policy he later criticised. When Jiří Paroubek became the new Prime Minister in 2005, Sobotka reduced his restrictions which led to the increase the deficit.[2]

Sobotka was elected to the Chamber again in 2006 but his party lost the election and went in opposition. Sobotka became a Minister of Finance in a Shadow Cabinet of Social democrats. His party won legislative election in 2010 but failed to form a governing coalition, remained in opposition.

Sobotka then served as interim leader of ČSSD after the resignation of Jiří Paroubek following the election. He also briefly served as interim chairman in 2006, after the resignation of Stanislav Gross. Sobotka was elected the Chairman of the party on 18 March 2011 when defeated Michal Hašek who became the First Deputy Chairman.[3] On 18 March 2011, Sobotka was officially elected the party chairman.[1]

Leader of ČSSD

Sobotka led his party to legislative election in 2013. The party won the election and gained 20.45% of votes. The formation of a new government was remarked by a conflict between Bohuslav Sobotka and Michal Hašek who along his allies from the Party attended a secret post-election meeting with the Czech President Miloš Zeman. They called on Sobotka to resign due to the party's poor election result. Hašek and his allies also eliminated Sobotka from the team negotiating the next government. The secret meeting was later revealed and Hašek accused of publicly lying about it. It led to public protests in the country in support of Sobotka which led to Hašek's retreat and a creation of a new negotiation government-formation team led by Sobotka.

Prime Minister of the Czech Republic

Sobotka was designated as Prime Minister on 17 January 2014 and appointed, alongside his Cabinet, by President Miloš Zeman on 29 January 2014. His cabinet consists of members of the ČSSD, ANO 2011 and Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Bohuslav Sobotka: new mild-mannered, leftist Czech PM". GlobalPost (originally Agence France-Presse). 17 January 2014. Retrieved 21 January 2014.
  2. ↑ "Mgr. Bohuslav Sobotka". NašiPolitici.cz. Nadační fond proti korupci. Retrieved 20 July 2014.
  3. ↑ Brožová, Karolina (17 January 2014). "Sobotkova dlouhá cesta" (in Czech). Týden. Retrieved 21 January 2014.
Political offices
Preceded by
Jiří Rusnok		 Minister of Finance
2002–2006 		Succeeded by
Vlastimil Tlustý
Preceded by
Jiří Rusnok		 Prime Minister of the Czech Republic
2014–present 		Incumbent
Party political offices
Preceded by
Stanislav Gross		 Leader of the Social Democratic Party
Acting
2005–2006 		Succeeded by
Jiří Paroubek
Preceded by
Jiří Paroubek		 Leader of the Social Democratic Party
Acting: 2010–2011
2010–present 		Incumbent