Bohuslav Sobotka

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Bohuslav Sobotka
Social Democratic Party
In office
29 May 2010 – 15 June 2017
Acting: 29 May 2010 – 21 March 2011
Preceded byJiří Paroubek
Succeeded byMilan Chovanec
In office
26 April 2005 – 13 May 2006
Acting
Preceded byStanislav Gross
Succeeded byJiří Paroubek
Minister of Industry and Trade
Acting
In office
1 March 2017 – 4 April 2017
Prime MinisterHimself
Preceded byJan Mládek
Succeeded byJiří Havlíček
Minister of Finance
In office
12 July 2002 – 4 September 2006
Prime MinisterVladimír Špidla
Stanislav Gross
Jiří Paroubek
Preceded byJiří Rusnok
Succeeded byVlastimil Tlustý
Member of the Chamber of Deputies
In office
1 June 1996 – 31 March 2018
Personal details
Born (1971-10-23) 23 October 1971 (age 52)
Social Democratic Party
Spouse
Olga Pekárková
​
​
(m. 2003; div. 2018)​
Children2
Alma materMasaryk University
Signature
WebsiteOfficial website

Bohuslav Sobotka (Czech pronunciation:

Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD) from 2010 until his resignation in June 2017. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies (MP) from 1996 to 2018. Sobotka also served as minister of Finance
from 2002 to 2006.

After the formation of the Cabinet of

Cabinet of Petr Nečas
.

Following the

15 years and the third in the history of the Czech Republic
to finish his full term.

On June 14, 2017, Sobotka announced his resignation as Leader of ČSSD due to low

2017 legislative election but opted to stay on as prime minister, and he was re-elected MP in his South Moravia and in December 2017 was succeeded by Andrej Babiš. On March 31 March 2018, Sobotka retired from the Chamber of Deputies
citing personal reasons.

Early life

Sobotka was born in Telnice, but moved with his family to Slavkov u Brna. He received a Master's degree in law at Masaryk University.[1]

Political career

Sobotka was first elected to the

Chamber of Deputies in 1996.[2] From 2002 to 2006, he was Finance Minister of the Czech Republic.[2]
Sobotka was also a Deputy Prime Minister from 2003 to 2004 and from 2005 to 2006.

Minister of Finance

As the minister of finance, Sobotka formed an advisory body of economists, which later became the National Economic Council of the Czech government. His austerity policy included the dismissal of employees and restrictions on savings accounts and health benefits, a policy he later criticized. When Jiří Paroubek became the new prime minister in 2005, Sobotka reduced his restrictions which led to an increase in the deficit.[3]

Sobotka was elected to the chamber again in

legislative election in 2010 but failed to form a governing coalition and remained in opposition.[citation needed
]

Sobotka then served as interim leader of ČSSD after the resignation of Jiří Paroubek following the election. He also briefly served as interim chairman in 2006, after the resignation of Stanislav Gross. Sobotka was elected chairman of the party on March 18, 2011, when he defeated Michal Hašek who became the first deputy chairman.[4] On March 18, 2011, Sobotka was officially elected the party chairman.[2]

Leader of ČSSD

Sobotka led his party in the

2017 legislative election.[5] However, Sobotka decided to compete in the election as the leader of the party in the South Moravian Region. After his resignation, Minister of Interior Milan Chovanec assumed the position of acting leader of the ČSSD, while Minister of Foreign Affairs Lubomír Zaorálek became the party candidate for Prime Minister
.

Prime Minister (2014–17)

Sobotka with Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydło and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte in Warsaw, 19 June 2017

Sobotka was designated as prime minister on January 17, 2014,[

Christian and Democratic Union–Czechoslovak People's Party
.

He was the 11th

ČSSD
had 50 seats.

Bohuslav Sobotka's views on the Czech Republic's membership in the

British withdrawal from it.[7]

On May 26, 2015, he and his coalition government faced their first attempt to overthrow the

vote of no-confidence to the Government of the Czech Republic because of Finance Minister of the Czech Republic Andrej Babiš. The attempt was unsuccessful as Members of Parliament did not support the vote of no confidence in the current Government.[8]

In December 2016, Sobotka called for higher corporate taxes, stating: "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 Czech koruna."[9]

On May 2, 2017, Sobotka announced that he would resign because he could not bear responsibility for Finance Minister Andrej Babiš. Sobotka stated that Babiš failed to clear up questions surrounding questionable financial transactions connected to his business activity.[10] Sobotka changed his mind on May 5 May 2017 and instead decided to fire Babiš from his cabinet.[11]

On June 15, 2017, Sobotka resigned as party leader of ČSSD.[12]

On December 5, 2017, Sobotka's cabinet resigned following heavy party losses in the general elections in October. Subsequently, Andrej Babiš was appointed prime minister on December 6, 2017, and his new government assumed office on December 13 December 2017.

Post-premiership

Sobotka returned to his hometown of

ČSSD stated they do not intend for him to run in the upcoming municipal election.[13]

On March 22, 2018, Sobotka announced that he would resign as a member of the Chamber of Deputies (MP), effective April 1 April 2018.[14]

Personal life

Sobotka was married Olga Sobotková between 2003 and 2018, with whom he has two sons named David and Martin. In his free time, Sobotka reads

sci-fi, and contemporary literature. He also spends his time watching theater performances and watching local films at the cinema.[15]

References

  1. ^ "Mgr. Bohuslav Sobotka | Vláda ČR". www.vlada.cz. Retrieved 2020-02-11.
  2. ^ a b c "Bohuslav Sobotka: new mild-mannered, Communist Czech PM". GlobalPost (originally Agence France-Presse). 17 January 2014. Archived from the original on 2 February 2014. Retrieved 21 January 2014.
  3. ^ "Mgr. Bohuslav Sobotka". NašiPolitici.cz. Nadační fond proti korupci. Archived from the original on 2 December 2015. Retrieved 20 July 2014.
  4. ^ Brožová, Karolina (17 January 2014). "Sobotkova dlouhá cesta" (in Czech). Týden. Retrieved 21 January 2014.
  5. ^ "Czech PM quits as party leader, stays on at head of government". POLITICO. 2017-06-15. Retrieved 2017-06-15.
  6. ^ "Členství v EU je pro ČR přínosem!" (in Czech). Blog. 2 October 2014. Archived from the original on 24 June 2015. Retrieved 15 June 2015.
  7. ^ Agence France-Presse. "Czech PM sees 'Czexit' debate if Britain leaves EU". GlobalPost. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04.
  8. ^ "Opozice s vyslovením nedůvěry Sobotkově vládě neuspěla" (in Czech). ČT24. 26 May 2015. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  9. ^ ČSSD promises 'genuine' tax revolution". E15. 22 December 2016.
  10. ^ "Czech government to resign amid finance minister row". POLITICO. 2 May 2017. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
  11. ^ "Sobotka demisi nepodá, na Hrad už poslal návrh na Babišovo odvolání". Novinky.cz (in Czech). 5 May 2017. Retrieved 5 May 2017.
  12. ^ "Sobotka končí jako předseda ČSSD, stranu povede Chovanec". Novinky.cz (in Czech). 14 June 2017. Retrieved 14 June 2017.
  13. ^ "Sobotka se přestěhoval do Vyškova, pokusí se tam o politický restart". iDNES.cz. 4 January 2018. Retrieved 4 January 2018.
  14. ^ "Sobotka rezignuje na post poslance a opouští politiku". Novinky.cz (in Czech). 22 March 2018. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
  15. ^ "18.05.2015 Tento týden v Týdnu vyšel velký rozhovor s předsedou vlády" (in Czech). Týden. 18 May 2015. Archived from the original on 24 May 2015. Retrieved 24 May 2015.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bohuslav Sobotka.
Political offices
Preceded by Minister of Finance
2002–2006 		Succeeded by
Prime Minister of the Czech Republic
2014–2017 		Succeeded by
Party political offices
Preceded by Leader of the
Social Democratic Party

Acting
2005–2006 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Leader of the
Social Democratic Party

Acting: 2010–2011
2010–2017 		Succeeded by
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