Czech Republic Political and Economic Developments
In 2003 the former Czech PM Vaclav Klaus was elected President succeeding his long time rival Vaclav Havel. On the economic front the moment entire Czech Republic was waiting for arrived when it joined the EU in May 2004. This event was greatly expected to step up the Czech economy.
The years 2004 and 2005 also brought political turmoil to the Czech Republic with two resignations of PM?s Vladimir Spidla and Stanislav Gross respectively in quick succession. The political scenario became further hazy in 2006 when the General Elections threw up a hung verdict. President Klaus appointed the Civic Democratic Party leader Mirek Topolanek as the PM who succeeded in forming a grand centre-right coalition led by his Civic Democratic Party.
The Czech Government approved a US proposal to build a anti-ballistic missile defence shield in Czech Republic in 2007. This controversial decision caused widespread resentment among the citizens and particularly angered Russia, which alleged that the missile shield was intended to curb its influence in the Central Asian region.
2008 saw some important events including the re-election of Vaclav Klaus as President. Apart from this Czech Republic adopted the Euro as its currency and took over the EU presidency in January 2009.
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