Czech Republic , The Czech Republic slipped backward somewhat in 2003 amid political uncertainty and economic sluggishness. The key political events for the Czechs in 2003 were the parliament’s election of the new president in February and the referendum on European Union membership, held on June 13–14. The presidential elections were considered the first major failure for the government—the ruling parties’ candidate lost. Meanwhile, the EU referendum was a key success; a total of 55.2% of the Czech electorate participated in the country’s first-ever referendum, with 77.3% voting in favour of joining the EU. The country was scheduled to join the EU on May 1, 2004.
The conclusion of Pres. Vaclav Havel’s final term in office in February (he was ineligible to run for another term) represented the end of an era for the Czechs. That was particularly true, given that his successor was Vaclav Klaus, who in many ways represented the antithesis of Havel. Klaus, the former chairman of the opposition Civic Democratic Party (ODS), won the presidency despite the fact that the three ruling parties had vowed to support an alternative candidate, former dissident Jan Sokol. From the start, Klaus’s victory promised to be a thorn in the side of the ruling coalition, since he was a self-proclaimed “Thatcherite” and an outspoken conservative and Euroskeptic. In contrast, the Social Democrats (CSSD), the biggest party in the ruling coalition, leaned to the left and was strongly pro-EU.
The presidential vote revealed growing tensions within the CSSD, as some party representatives reportedly voted for Klaus rather than Sokol. From the start, maintenance of the new government was expected to be difficult, since the ruling parties had won just 101 seats in the 200-member parliament in the June 2002 elections, barely enough for a majority. Initially it was expected that the CSSD’s two centre-right junior coalition partners, rather than the CSSD itself, would provide the impetus to provoke instability within the cabinet. Following Klaus’s election as president, Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla called a vote of confidence in his government for March 11, and the measure passed by the narrowest-possible majority. Nonetheless, internal strife within the CSSD continued. The cabinet suffered a major blow on July 22 when it lost its parliamentary majority owing to the resignation of Josef Hojdar from the CSSD’s parliamentary caucus. Although CSSD representatives played down the importance of his departure, Hojdar’s support was particularly important, given the need for an absolute majority of all deputies (101 votes) to override a veto by the president or the Senate, where the ruling coalition also lacked a majority.
In late September political tensions heated up considerably as the parliament discussed a package of 11 bills related to public finance reform and the opposition called a no-confidence vote in the cabinet. Many observers believed the fiscal-reform legislation would fail to gain approval after Hojdar’s departure, especially given the complaints of many other CSSD representatives that the bills ran contrary to party principles. Nonetheless, all 11 of the bills were approved, while the government won the confidence vote by a narrow margin of 100–98, with Hojdar abstaining. Despite those successes, the government’s position remained unstable, as the reform measures still needed to be approved by the Senate and signed by President Klaus. If rejected by either the Senate or the president, the bills would return to the parliament, where they would require the support of 101 of the 200 deputies. The Senate was expected to discuss the remaining finance-reform bills at a later time.
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The Czech economic performance was somewhat disappointing in 2003; GDP growth was sluggish, and the unemployment rate rose above 10% for the first time. Exports recorded a recovery despite the difficult external situation, and industry performed well. Imports also rose steadily as strong wage growth and disinflation contributed to a rise in household consumption. The government’s biggest economic challenge in 2003 was to put the country’s fiscal house in order. Although the cabinet’s reform bills would move the Czech Republic partly in that direction, the changes were generally seen as haphazard and insufficient.