Vít Jedlička (; born 6 September 1983) is a Czech

libertarian Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's e ...

politician, publicist and activist. He was the chairman of the

Party of Free Citizens A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature fo ...

in the

Hradec Králové Region Hradec Králové Region ( cs, Královéhradecký kraj, ; pl, Kraj hradecki) is an administrative unit ( cs, kraj) of the Czech Republic located in the north-eastern part of the historical region of Bohemia. It is named after its capital Hradec ...

and currently serves as the founder and chairman of the Czech voluntary association Reformy.cz. On 13 April 2015, he founded the self-declared libertarian micronation Free Republic of Liberland and became its first president.

Education

In 2008, Jedlička received a

bachelor’s degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in international relations and affairs from the

University of Economics, Prague The Prague University of Economics and Business (PUEB) (originally: ''the University of Economics, Prague''; '' cs, Vysoká škola ekonomická v Praze, VŠE'') is a triple crown accredited economics and business-oriented public university loc ...

. He gained his

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.

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and ...

at the CEVRO Institute in 2014.

Background

Jedlička's father was removed from his office job at the Institute of Weights and Measures in Prague after losing favour with the authorities for resisting the Communist Party membership and was sent to work as a mechanic. During the 1997 Czech financial crisis, his family nearly went bankrupt when the Czech central bank raised interest rates to 25 percent. Jedlička's working career ranges from sales and management to financial analysis and IT. From 2006 to 2009, he was the managing director of HKfree.net, a civic network and internet service in his hometown of

Hradec Králové Hradec Králové (; german: Königgrätz) is a city of the Czech Republic. It has about 91,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of the Hradec Králové Region. The historic centre of Hradec Králové is well preserved and is protected by law as a ...

. From 2009 to 2014, Jedlička was the regional chairman of the

. In 2011, he co-founded Reformy.cz, a community news service of libertarian roots, and became its chairman.

Politics

From 2001, Vít Jedlička was a member of Civic Democratic Party. Since 2009 he has been a member of the Free Citizens Party. In 2009 he was elected the first regional president in

of the Free Citizens Party. As an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...

, Jedlička was the leading candidate of the coalition of the Free Citizens Party, Liberland, and Radostné Česko - ODEJDEME BEZ PLACENÍ for the

2019 European Parliament election in the Czech Republic The 2019 European Parliament election in the Czech Republic was held on 24 and 25 May 2019, electing the 21 members of the Czech delegation to the European Parliament as part of the European elections held across the European Union. The result w ...

Views

Jedlička considers himself as

with liberal views on individual freedom and the least state intrusion possible. A

Property and Freedom Society The Property and Freedom Society (PFS) is a right-wing, anarcho-capitalist political organization located in Bodrum, Turkey. Founded in May 2006 under the stewardship of Hans-Hermann Hoppe, a Rothbardian political theorist and Professor Emeritu ...

attendee in 2015, his views are similar to that of American politician

Ron Paul Ronald Ernest Paul (born August 20, 1935) is an American author, activist, physician and retired politician who served as the U.S. representative for Texas's 22nd congressional district from 1976 to 1977 and again from 1979 to 1985, as we ...

. He has described himself as a Bastiat-influenced

anarcho-capitalist Anarcho-capitalism (or, colloquially, ancap) is an anti-statist, libertarian, and anti-political philosophy and economic theory that seeks to abolish centralized states in favor of stateless societies with systems of private property e ...

in a podcast. Jedlička is a

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 ...

who alleges there is a

democratic deficit A democratic deficit (or democracy deficit) occurs when ostensibly democratic organizations or institutions (particularly governments) fall short of fulfilling the principles of democracy in their practices or operation where representative and li ...

in the institution of the EU and abuses of basic moral rules by EU institutions and EU member states. Jedlička described the

European Stability Mechanism The European Stability Mechanism (ESM) is an intergovernmental organization located in Luxembourg City, which operates under public international law for all eurozone member states having ratified a special ESM intergovernmental treaty. It was ...

as a

protectorate A protectorate, in the context of international relations, is a state that is under protection by another state for defence against aggression and other violations of law. It is a dependent territory that enjoys autonomy over most of its inte ...

. He opposes

socialism Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

Liberland

On 13 April 2015, Vít Jedlička proclaimed the Free Republic of Liberland on what he considered an unclaimed land lot (

terra nullius ''Terra nullius'' (, plural ''terrae nullius'') is a Latin expression meaning " nobody's land". It was a principle sometimes used in international law to justify claims that territory may be acquired by a state's occupation of it. : : ...

) known as Siga between

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hung ...

and

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

. The Preparatory Committee which Jedlička appointed elected him as president that same day.

References

External links

Personal blog on iDNES.cz

Website of the Free Republic of Liberland
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jedlicka, Vit 1983 births Living people Civic Democratic Party (Czech Republic) politicians 21st-century Czech economists Czech libertarians Micronational leaders Politicians from Hradec Králové Svobodní politicians Prague University of Economics and Business alumni