Bohuslav Sobotka (; born 23 October 1971) is a

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

politician and lawyer who served as the

Prime Minister of the Czech Republic The prime minister of the Czech Republic ( Czech: ''Předseda vlády České republiky'') is the head of the government of the Czech Republic. The prime minister is the de-facto leader of the executive branch, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ...

from January 2014 to December 2017 and Leader of the

Czech Social Democratic Party The Czech Social Democratic Party ( cs, Česká strana sociálně demokratická, ČSSD, ) is a social-democratic political party in the Czech Republic. Sitting on the centre-left of the political spectrum and holding pro-European views, it is a ...

(ČSSD) from 2010 until his resignation in June 2017. He was Member of the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...

(MP) from 1996 to 2018. Sobotka also served as

minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", ...

from 2002 to 2006. Sobotka was born in Telnice but soon moved with his family to

Slavkov u Brna Slavkov u Brna (; historically known in German as Austerlitz) is a town in Vyškov District in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 7,000 inhabitants. The town gave its name to the Battle of Austerlitz which took place sev ...

. He studied law at the

Masaryk University in Brno Masaryk University (MU) ( cs, Masarykova univerzita; la, Universitas Masarykiana Brunensis) is the second largest university in the Czech Republic, a member of the Compostela Group and the Utrecht Network. Founded in 1919 in Brno as the sec ...

and earned

magister degree A magister degree (also magistar, female form: magistra; from la, magister, "teacher") is an academic degree used in various systems of higher education. The magister degree arose in medieval universities in Europe and was originally equal to th ...

in 1995. After the

fall of communism The Revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, was a revolutionary wave that resulted in the end of most communist states in the world. Sometimes this revolutionary wave is also called the Fall of Nations or the Autumn of Nat ...

he helped rebuild

(ČSSD) and became a member. Sobotka also co-founded Young Social Democrats, a youth wing of the ČSSD. He was first elected to the

in the 1996 legislative election. After the formation of the Cabinet of

Vladimír Špidla Vladimír Špidla () (born 22 April 1951) is a Czech politician who served as the prime minister of the Czech Republic from July 2002 to August 2004 and as European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities from November ...

in 2002, Sobotka was appointed

Finance Minister A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", ...

and then in 2003, he was promoted to the position of the

Deputy Prime Minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, ...

, reappointed Finance Minister in both cabinets of Social Democratic Prime Ministers Stanislav Gross and

Jiří Paroubek Jiří Paroubek (; born 21 August 1952) is a Czech politician, who was the prime minister of the Czech Republic from April 2005 to August 2006. He was also the leader of the Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD) from 2006 until his resignation f ...

. In 2005, he was appointed the First Deputy Prime Minister in Paroubek's government. After the 2006 legislative election, Sobotka became opposition MP and in 2011 he was

elected Elected may refer to: * "Elected" (song), by Alice Cooper, 1973 * ''Elected'' (EP), by Ayreon, 2008 *The Elected, an American indie rock band See also *Election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population ...

as the Leader of the Social Democrats, and thus stood as the Leader of the Opposition to the Cabinet of Petr Nečas. Following the 2013 snap election, Sobotka was appointed prime minister on 17 January 2014 by the

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

and twelve days later formed centre-left

Coalition Government A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...

consisting of ČSSD,

ANO 2011 ANO 2011, often shortened to simply ANO ("Yes" in English), the initials meaning Action of Dissatisfied Citizens ( cs, Akce nespokojených občanů), is a populist political party in the Czech Republic. The party was founded by Andrej Babiš. Hi ...

and

KDU-ČSL KDU-ČSL (In Czech, the initials of the Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party; cs, Křesťanská a demokratická unie – Československá strana lidová), often shortened to ('the populars') is a Christian-democrati ...

. His government introduced series of measures aimed at tackling

tax evasion Tax evasion is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to reduce the tax ...

, such as electronic registration of sales or VAT control system, strengthened relations with China, reformed the

police The police are a Law enforcement organization, constituted body of Law enforcement officer, persons empowered by a State (polity), state, with the aim to law enforcement, enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citize ...

, repealed the civil service act and enforced the

smoking ban Smoking bans, or smoke-free laws, are public policies, including criminal laws and occupational safety and health regulations, that prohibit tobacco smoking in certain spaces. The spaces most commonly affected by smoking bans are indoor workpl ...

. He also frequently clashed with President

Miloš Zeman Miloš Zeman (; born 28 September 1944) is a Czech politician serving as the third and current President of the Czech Republic since 2013. He previously served as the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic from 1998 to 2002. As leader of the Cze ...

regarding the Russian intervention in Ukraine and resulting sanctions, domestic policy and Sobotka's withdrawn resignation in May 2017. Sobotka is the first prime minister in 15 years and the third in the history of the Czech Republic to finish his full term. On 14 June 2017, Sobotka announced his resignation as Leader of ČSSD due to low

opinion polling An opinion poll, often simply referred to as a survey or a poll (although strictly a poll is an actual election) is a human research survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinions ...

prior to the 2017 legislative election but opted to stay on as prime minister and he was re-elected MP in his

South Moravia The South Moravian Region ( cs, Jihomoravský kraj; , ; sk, Juhomoravský kraj) is an administrative unit () of the Czech Republic, located in the south-western part of its historical region of Moravia (an exception is Jobova Lhota which trad ...

and in December 2017 was succeeded by

Andrej Babiš Andrej Babiš (; born 2 September 1954) is a Czech politician and businessman of Slovak descent who served as the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic from 2017 to 2021. Babis previously served as the Minister of Finance and deputy Prime Minister ...

. On 31 March 2018, Sobotka resigned from the

citing personal reasons.

Youth

He comes from Telnice. His family moved to

in the early 1980s. There he completed Primary School Tyršova. He studied at Gymnasium Bučovice from 1986 to 1990. He studied at

Masaryk University Masaryk University (MU) ( cs, Masarykova univerzita; la, Universitas Masarykiana Brunensis) is the second largest university in the Czech Republic, a member of the Compostela Group and the Utrecht Network. Founded in 1919 in Brno as the se ...

where he received a

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in Law.

Political career

Sobotka was first elected to the

in 1996. From 2002 to 2006, he was

Finance Minister of the Czech Republic The Finance Minister of the Czech Republic is the head of the Ministry of Finance of the Czech Republic which is concerned with financial and monetary matters. The Finance Minister is a member of Prime Minister's Cabinet and is allowed to a ...

. Sobotka was also a Deputy Prime Minister from 2003 to 2004 and from 2005 to 2006.

Minister of Finance

As the minister of finance he formed an advisory body of economists. It later became the National Economic Council of Czech government. His austerity policy included dismissal of employees and restrictions on savings accounts and health benefits, a policy he later criticized. When

became the new prime minister in 2005, Sobotka reduced his restrictions which led to an increase in the deficit. Sobotka was elected to the chamber again in

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 ...

but his party lost the election and went into 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 and remained in opposition. Sobotka then served as interim leader of ČSSD after the resignation of

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 he

defeated Defeated may refer to: * "Defeated" (Breaking Benjamin song) * "Defeated" (Anastacia song) *"Defeated", a song by Snoop Dogg from the album ''Bible of Love'' *Defeated, Tennessee, an unincorporated community *''The Defeated ''The Defeated'', al ...

Michal Hašek Michal Hašek (born 17 April 1976) is a Czech politician and former Governor of South Moravian Region. From 2002 until 2014, Hašek was a member of the Chamber of Deputies (MP). He also served as shadow Minister of Agriculture in the shadow cabin ...

who became the First Deputy Chairman. On 18 March 2011, Sobotka was officially elected the party chairman.

Leader of ČSSD

Sobotka led his party in the legislative elections of 2013. The party won the election, gaining 20.45% of votes. The formation of a new government was marked by a conflict between Bohuslav Sobotka and

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 was accused of publicly lying about it. It led to public protests in the country in support of Sobotka, which in turn led to Hašek's retreat and new government-coalition negotiations led by Sobotka. After leading his party for some seven years, Bohuslav Sobotka resigned on 14 June 2017 as the Leader of the Social Democratic Party after some opinion polls showed his party with support of 10% saying that “party has to undergo deeper changes, so that it would be able to better address people and to mobilize its supporters and members” ahead of the 2017 legislative election. However, Sobotka decided to compete in the election as the leader of the party in the

South Moravian Region The South Moravian Region ( cs, Jihomoravský kraj; , ; sk, Juhomoravský kraj) is an administrative unit () of the Czech Republic, located in the south-western part of its historical region of Moravia (an exception is Jobova Lhota which trad ...

. After his resignation, Minister of Interior Milan Chovanec has assumed the position of acting Leader of the ČSSD, while Minister of Foreign Affairs

Lubomír Zaorálek Lubomír Zaorálek (born 6 September 1956) is a Czech politician, who served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs under Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka from 2014 to 2017, and Minister of Culture under Prime Minister Andrej Babiš from 2019 to 2021. ...

became the party candidate for

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

Prime Minister (2014–17)

Sobotka was designated as prime minister on 17 January 2014 and appointed, alongside his Cabinet, by

on 29 January 2014. His cabinet consisted of members of the

coalition government A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...

– the

ČSSD The Czech Social Democratic Party ( cs, Česká strana sociálně demokratická, ČSSD, ) is a social-democratic political party in the Czech Republic. Sitting on the centre-left of the political spectrum and holding pro-European views, it is a m ...

, and Christian and Democratic Union–Czechoslovak People's Party. He was the 11th

and the 1st left-wing Prime Minister after 6 years of right-wing political control in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

. Sobotka's government coalition had in the

111 seats out of 200 and his

had 50 seats. Bohuslav Sobotka's views on the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...

and the Czech Republic's membership in the European Union as

were relatively positive. Sobotka noted that ''membership of the Czech Republic in the European Union is a benefit''. He has also said that membership provides better security measures and economic stability. However, in early 2016, Sobotka said there would be a national debate on the country's place in the European Union in the case of British withdrawal from it. On 26 May 2015, he and his coalition government faced the first attempt to overthrow the

Government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government i ...

when opposition called on vote of no-confidence to the Government of the Czech Republic because of

. The attempt was unsuccessful as Members of Parliament did not support the vote of no confidence in the current

. In December 2016, Sobotka called for higher

corporate tax A corporate tax, also called corporation tax or company tax, is a direct tax imposed on the income or capital of corporations or analogous legal entities. Many countries impose such taxes at the national level, and a similar tax may be imposed a ...

es, saying: “The way taxation is set up right now it only obliges the big and rich players, who export their profits out of the Czech Republic. Annually, these sums amount to 200 to 300 billion rowns” On 2 May 2017, Sobotka announced that he would resign because he could not bear responsibility for Finance Minister

. Sobotka stated that Babiš failed to clear up questions surrounding questionable financial transactions connected to his business activity. Sobotka changed his mind on 5 May 2017 and instead decided to fire Babiš from his cabinet. On 15 June 2017, Bohuslav Sobotka resigned as party leader of ČSSD. On 5 December 2017, Sobotka's Cabinet resigned following heavy party losses in the general elections in October. Subsequently

was appointed prime minister on 6 December 2017, and his new government assumed office on 13 December 2017.

Post-premiership

Sobotka resided to his hometown

Vyškov Vyškov (; german: Wischau) is a town in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 20,000 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument zone. Administrative parts Vyškov ...

in January 2018 and stated that he plans to restart his political career. Members of local

stated they don't intend for him to run in the upcoming municipal election. On 22 March 2018, Sobotka announced that he would resign as a member of the

(MP) effective 1 April 2018.

Personal life

Sobotka was married from 2003 till 2018 to Olga Sobotková. He has 2 sons - David (2003) and Martin (2009). Prime Minister Sobotka likes to read

historical mystery The historical mystery or historical whodunit is a subgenre of two literary genres, historical fiction and mystery fiction. These works are set in a time period considered historical from the author's perspective, and the central plot involves th ...

sci-fi Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel universe ...

, and contemporary literature. He also likes attending theater performances and going to the

cinema Cinema may refer to: Film * Cinematography, the art of motion-picture photography * Film or movie, a series of still images that create the illusion of a moving image ** Film industry, the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking ...

where he prefers Czech films.

References

External links