The Czech Republic, also known by its short-form name Czechia and formerly known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the east. The Czech Republic has a hilly landscape that covers an area of 78,871 square kilometers (30,452 sq mi) with a mostly temperate continental and oceanic climate.
Czech Republic is a unitary parliamentary constitutional republic, in which the President is the head of state and the Prime Minister is the head of government.
Executive power is exercised by the Government of the Czech Republic which reports to the Chamber of Deputies. The Legislature is exercised by the Parliament. Czech Parliament is bicameral, the upper house of the Parliament is the Senate, the lower house of the Parliament is the Chamber of Deputies. The Senate consists of 81 members who are elected for six years. The Chamber of Deputies consists of 200 members who are elected for four years. The Judiciary system is topped by the trio of Constitutional Court, Supreme Court and Supreme Administrative Court.
The highest legal document is the Constitution of the Czech Republic, complemented by constitutional laws and the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms. The current constitution went in effect on 1 January 1993, after the Dissolution of Czechoslovakia.
The chairman of the Government of the Czech Republic, commonly referred to in English as the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, is the head of the Government of the Czech Republic. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Chamber of Deputies. The current Prime Minister, Petr Fiala, leader of the ODS, was appointed by the President on 28 November 2021, and serves as 13th person in the office.
The Czech National Bank, is the central bank and financial market supervisor in the Czech Republic with its headquarters in Prague, and a member of the European System of Central Banks. The Bank's governor is Jiří Rusnok. In accordance with its primary objective, the CNB sets monetary policy, issues banknotes and coins and manages the circulation of the Czech koruna, the payment system and settlement between banks. It also performs supervision of the banking sector, the capital market, the insurance industry, pension funds, credit unions and electronic money institutions, as well as foreign exchange supervision.
Petr Pithart is a Czech politician, lawyer and political scientist who served as Prime Minister of the Czech Republic from 6 February 1990 to 2 July 1992. He was also the Senator for Chrudim from 1996 to 2012 and served as President of the Senate from 8 January 1996 to 16 December 1998 and again from 19 December 2000 to 15 December 2004.
The Prague University of Economics and Business (PUEB)(originally: the University of Economics, Prague; Czech: Vysoká škola ekonomická v Praze, VŠE) is a triple crown accredited Economics and business-oriented public university located in Prague, Czech Republic. It is the largest university in the field of economics, business, and information technology in the Czech Republic, with 14 000 students across its bachelors, masters, doctoral, and MBA programmes. It is considered the best business school in Czech Republic and one of the best in Central and Eastern Europe. It is also a part of CEMS global alliance.
The Czech Republic is bound to adopt the euro in the future and to join the eurozone once it has satisfied the euro convergence criteria by the Treaty of Accession since it joined the European Union (EU) in 2004. The Czech Republic is therefore a candidate for the enlargement of the eurozone and it uses the Czech koruna as its currency, regulated by the Czech National Bank, a member of the European System of Central Banks, and does not participate in European Exchange Rate Mechanism II.
Ivan Mikloš is a Slovak politician and the former Minister of Finance of Slovakia (2010–2012). He previously served as Slovakia's Minister of Finance from 2002 to 2006, and Deputy Prime Minister for Economy between 1998 and 2002.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic is a senior official of the Government of the Czech Republic, and as the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is concerned with foreign policy and foreign relations of the Czech Republic.
Czech–Kosovan relations are foreign relations between the Czech Republic and Kosovo. Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia on 17 February 2008 and Czech Republic recognized it on 21 May 2008. The Czech Republic opened an embassy in Pristina on 16 July 2008.
Bohuslav Sobotka is a Czech politician and lawyer who served as the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic from January 2014 to December 2017 and Leader of the Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD) from 2010 until his resignation in June 2017. He was Member of the Chamber of Deputies (MP) from 1996 to 2018. Sobotka also served as the minister of Finance from 2002 to 2006.
The Office for Foreign Relations and Information (ÚZSI) is the main foreign intelligence service of the Czech Republic responsible for the collection, analysis and dissemination of intelligence. It is mandated to provide accurate and timely intelligence to the Government of the Czech Republic that is vital to support and protect foreign and economic policy interests.
The Ministry of Finance of the Czech Republic, abbreviated MFČR, is a government ministry, responsible for matters relating to economic policy, the government budget, revenue service, banking, security and insurance, international economic work, central, regional and local government.
Jan Mládek is a Czech economist and Social Democratic politician who served as Minister of Industry and Trade from 2014 to 2017. Between 2005 and 2006 Mládek also was Minister of Agriculture in Paroubek's cabinet. He also served as a member of the Chamber of Deputies.
Jiří Rusnok is a Czech politician and economist who served as the prime minister of the Czech Republic between June 2013 and January 2014. Since 1 July 2016 he has been serving as the governor of the Czech National Bank.
Andrej Babiš is a Czech politician and businessman who served as the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic from December 2017 to December 2021. He previously served as the minister of Finance and deputy prime minister from 2014 to 2017 in Bohuslav Sobotka's Cabinet. He has been founding leader of the party ANO 2011 (ANO) since 2012.
Tomáš Prouza is a Czech economist, former Deputy Minister of Finance (2004–2007) and from January 2014 to March 2017 State Secretary for European Affairs at the Czech Prime Minister's Office. In May 2016 the Government appointed Tomáš Prouza as the coordinator for the digital agenda. His main task was to synchronize and manage all governmental activities and communication for support of the digital economy and digitalization of public administration among the ministries and other central governmental institutions. He resigned his government positions on 31 March 2017 and went to establish his own consulting company EU Politics Advisory. On October 1, 2018 he has become President of the Confederation of Trade and Tourism of the Czech Republic.
Ivo Svoboda was a Czech politician and economist who served as 3rd Finance Minister of the Czech Republic from 1998 to 1999 in government of Prime Minister Miloš Zeman.
Ivan Pilný is a Czech politician and former Microsoft executive who briefly served as Finance Minister of the Czech Republic from 24 May 2017 to 13 December 2017. From 2013 to 2017 Pilný was a member of the Chamber of Deputies (MP).
Alena Schillerová is a Czech politician and lawyer who served as Minister of Finance in the government of Prime Minister Andrej Babiš from 2017 to 2021. Schillerová is the first woman in the history of the Czech Republic to hold the office.
