Svobodní, formerly known as Party of Free Citizens or the Free Citizens' Party () until 2019, is a classic liberal and

right-libertarian Right-libertarianism,Rothbard, Murray (1 March 1971)"The Left and Right Within Libertarianism". ''WIN: Peace and Freedom Through Nonviolent Action''. 7 (4): 6–10. Retrieved 14 January 2020.Goodway, David (2006). '' Anarchist Seeds Beneath the ...

Eurosceptic Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies and seek refor ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

in the

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

founded in 2009 by

Petr Mach Petr Mach (born 6 May 1975) is a Czech economist and former Member of the European Parliament. Mach is the founder of the Party of Free Citizens, which he led until 2017 when he was replaced by Tomáš Pajonk. Early career Mach worked as an e ...

, an economist and professor of

macroeconomics Macroeconomics is a branch of economics that deals with the performance, structure, behavior, and decision-making of an economy as a whole. This includes regional, national, and global economies. Macroeconomists study topics such as output (econ ...

. Prior to assuming his position as an MEP, Mach taught economics at VŠFS and VŠEM (two private business colleges in Prague). The party is led by

Libor Vondráček Libor Vondráček (born 29 July 1994) is a Czech politician who has served as chairman of Svobodní since October 2019. Early life and education As part of his studies, Vondráček focused on constitutional law, which culminated in the submiss ...

. Svobodní participated in the

2009 European Parliament election The 2009 European Parliament election was held in the 27 member states of the European Union (EU) between 4 and 7 June 2009. A total of 736 Member of the European Parliament, Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) were elected to represent s ...

in the Czech Republic. Its platform called for a referendum on the

introduction of the euro The euro came into existence on 1 January 1999, although it had been a goal of the European Union (EU) and its predecessors since the 1960s. After tough negotiations, the Maastricht Treaty entered into force in 1993 with the goal of creating a ...

in the Czech Republic and the rejection of the

Treaty of Lisbon The Treaty of Lisbon (initially known as the Reform Treaty) is a European agreement that amends the two treaties which form the constitutional basis of the European Union (EU). The Treaty of Lisbon, which was signed by all EU member states o ...

. The party unsuccessfully negotiated with

Declan Ganley Declan James Ganley (born 23 July 1968) is an English-born Irish entrepreneur, businessman, and political activist. He was the founder and leader of the Irish branch of the eurosceptic Libertas Party. Primarily a telecommunications entrepreneur ...

to join his European Union-wide Libertas movement. Its symbol is the green outline of a

ram Ram, ram, or RAM most commonly refers to: * A male sheep * Random-access memory, computer memory * Ram Trucks, US, since 2009 ** List of vehicles named Dodge Ram, trucks and vans ** Ram Pickup, produced by Ram Trucks Ram, ram, or RAM may also ref ...

's horns. After the

2014 European Parliament election The 2014 European Parliament election was held in the European Union (EU) between 22 and 25 May 2014. It was the 8th parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979, and the first in which the European political parties field ...

, the party's MEP joined the

Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy (EFDD or EFD²) was a Eurosceptic and populist political group in the European Parliament. The EFDD group was a continuation for the Eighth European Parliament of the Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD) ...

(EFDD) group. Party is member of the

International Alliance of Libertarian Parties The International Alliance of Libertarian Parties (IALP) is an alliance of libertarian political parties around the world. Its mission is to promote libertarian politics internationally. At the 2014 Libertarian National Convention in the United ...

and Interlibertarians. Several county councilors successfully ran on the party's ballot in the 2010 local elections as thirty-eight councilors held positions, primarily in towns and small cities. The party fielded candidates in the 2014 local elections, increasing its number of councilors. There are elected councilors in city districts (

Prague 3 Prague 3 (formally the ''Prague 3 Municipal District'', ), is a second-tier municipality in Prague. It is geographically identical to the national administrative district (''správní obvod'') and city administrative district (''městský obvod' ...

Prague 18 Prague 18 is a municipal district (''městská část'') in Prague. It is located in the north-eastern part of the city. It is formed by one cadastre Letňany. Prague 18 has 21,702 inhabitants as of 2021. The administrative district (''správní ...

and

Brno-Slatina Slatina is a city district of Brno, the second largest city in the Czech Republic. It is located in the eastern part of the city and is somewhat separated from other parts. Slatina became a part of Brno in 1919 and as of 2021, it has 11,104 inhabi ...

) and towns (

Chrudim Chrudim () is a town in the Pardubice Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 24,000 inhabitants. It is the second largest town of the region. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech Republic)#M ...

Hodonín Hodonín (; ) is a town in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 24,000 inhabitants. Geography Hodonín is located about southeast of Brno, on the border with Slovakia. It lies in a flat landscape of the Lower Morava Va ...

and

Kutná Hora Kutná Hora (; ) is a town in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 22,000 inhabitants. The history of Kutná Hora is linked to silver mining, which made it a rich and rapidly developing town. The centre of Kutná Hora, i ...

Philosophy

The party may be described as

libertarian Libertarianism (from ; or from ) is a political philosophy that holds freedom, personal sovereignty, and liberty as primary values. Many libertarians believe that the concept of freedom is in accord with the Non-Aggression Principle, according ...

, opposing high government involvement in the economy and personal lives and the centralization of political power. Its

free market In economics, a free market is an economic market (economics), system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of ...

advocates often adhere to the

Austrian School The Austrian school is a Heterodox economics, heterodox Schools of economic thought, school of economic thought that advocates strict adherence to methodological individualism, the concept that social phenomena result primarily from the motivat ...

of economics. They aim to lower tax rates, restrict state redistribution of wealth as much as possible. The party believes that downsizing the government would leave less opportunity for corruption, a problematic issue in Czech politics. They also say that Czech sovereignty is indispensable for a true democratic system and they see the respect for state free-making decisions as an analogy of respect for human freedom.https://www.svobodni.cz/politicka-filosofie-svobodnych/

Chamber of Deputies

The party has contested four elections to the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of Parliament.

European Parliament

Footnotes

External links

Official page
(in Czech) {{Authority control 2009 establishments in the Czech Republic Classical liberal parties Eurosceptic parties in the Czech Republic Liberal conservative parties in the Czech Republic Libertarian conservative parties Libertarian parties in the Czech Republic Libertarianism in the Czech Republic National conservative parties Paleolibertarianism Political parties established in 2009 Right-libertarianism Right-wing parties in the Czech Republic Civic Democratic Party (Czech Republic) breakaway groups Austrian School