Timeline Czechoslovakia; Czech Republic
Return to home
CIA Factbook: http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/ez.html
ICL: http://www.uni-wuerzburg.de/law/ez__indx.html
History: http://www.czech.cz/czech/history.html
Lonely Planet: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/dest/eur/cze.htm
3D Atlas: http://www.3DAtlas.com/countries/co_czech.html
Links: http://www.links2go.com/search?search=czech+republic&x=12&y=14
Ministry of Foreign Affairs: http://www.czech.cz/
See Czechoslovakia for events prior to 1992
28000BC In
2010 it was reported that starch grains found on 30,000-year-old
grinding stones suggest that prehistoric man may have dined on an
early form of flat bread, contrary to his popular image as primarily
a meat-eater. The grinding stones were discovered at sites in Italy,
Russia and the Czech Republic.
(Reuters, 10/19/10)
1973 Jul 28, In Czechoslovakia
a retired major of the communist secret police heard 4 people
singing an anti-communist song and called the police. They were
convicted of hooliganism and sentenced to up to one year behind
bars. In 2011 The Czech Supreme Court canceled the sentence. Ivan
Martin Jirous, a poet and artistic leader of the Plastic People of
the Universe, a nonconformist rock band banned by the communist
regime, was among the four.
{Czechoslovakia, Czech Rep.}
(AP, 6/22/11)
1991 Feb 15, In Visegrad,
Hungary, a declaration of co-operation was signed by Poland,
Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The 4 became known as the
Visegrad countries.
(Econ, 11/22/03,
p.10S)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visegr%C3%A1d_Group)
1992 Dec 31, The Nation of
Czechoslovakia officially ended with division into two Nations:
Slovakia and the Czech Republic. When the country split, all
citizens were deemed to be either Czech or Slovak, based on their
parentage. The vast majority of the Romany living in the Czech
Republic are of Slovak descent, and they had to apply for Czech
citizenship. In 2009 Mary Haimann authored “Czechoslovakia: The
State That Failed.”
(HFA, '96, p.44)(SFC, 5/13/96, p.A-8)(Econ,
11/21/09, p.84)
1993 Jan 1, Czechoslovakia
peacefully split into two new countries, the Czech Republic and
Slovakia. The Slovak people never voted on the 1993 split with the
Czechs. When the country split, all citizens were deemed to be
either Czech or Slovak, based on their parentage. The vast majority
of the Romany living in the Czech Republic are of Slovak descent,
and they had to apply for Czech citizenship. Vladimir Meciar
(b.1942) became the premier of Slovakia and Vaclav Klaus the premier
of the Czech Rep.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladim%C3%ADr_Me%C4%8Diar)(AP,
9/21/02)(WSJ, 4/26/96, p.A-1)(SFC, 5/13/96, p.A-8)(AP, 1/1/98)
1993 Aug 26, Russian President
Boris Yeltsin signed a friendship treaty with the Czech Republic
after condemning the 1968 Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia.
(RTH, 8/26/99)
1993 Aug, A shipment of 26,800
Czech machine guns, 5,000 pistols and a large amount of ammunition
was intercepted prior to shipment to Bosnia. The paperwork said it
was intended for Panama.
(WSJ, 12/11/01, p.A15)
1993 Vladimir Stehlik purchased
the Poldi Steel Company at a state auction. He got a bank to finance
the deal for which he overpaid and ran the business into the ground.
In 1997 Mr. Stehlik was put into prison for fraud after defaulting
on his loans and payments to the Czech government. He attempted to
continue running operations from his cell.
(WSJ, 1/24/97, p.A14)
1994 Feb 9, Jarmila Novotna
(86), Czech-US soprano (Madame Butterfly), died.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1994 Nov 14, The Czech TV
station Nova began its first commercial broadcast in Eastern Europe
with the film “Sophie’s Choice.”
(WSJ, 4/30/97, p.A1)
1995 Czech Pres. Havel
dedicated a small memorial to the victims of the WW II camp at Lety.
(SFC, 12/10/99, p.AA8)
1995 US-funded Radio Free
Europe/Radio Liberty moved its headquarters to Prague from Munich.
(AP, 11/30/09)
1996 Jun 2, In the Czech
Republic the center-right coalition of premier Vaclav Klaus lost its
majority in parliamentary elections.
(SFC, 6/3/96, p.A10)
1996 Jul 7, The average cost of
a Big Mac in the Czech Republic was $1.85.
(SFC, 7/7/96, Parade, p.17)
1996 Jul 13, The 50th
anniversary of the Czech Karlovy Vary Int’l. Film Festival.
(SFC, 7/5/96, p.D7)
1996 Aug 11, Rafael Jeronym
Kubelik (b.1914), conductor, died at age 82. He led the Czech
Philharmonic from 1941 to 1948 and the Chicago Symphony from
1050-1953. He was then musical director at London’s Covent Garden
opera house and from 1961-1979 headed the Munich orchestra of
Bavarian Radio. He was the son of Czech violinist Jan Kubelik.
(SFC, 8/12/96,
p.C5)(www.britannica.com/eb/article-9046338)
1996 Oct 6, The Czech film
“Kolya,” directed by Jan Sverak, won the grand prize at the Tokyo
Int’l. film festival.
(SFEC, 10/7/96, D3)
1996 Nov 11, Stanislav Devaty,
chief of the Czech secret service, resigned after being accused of
spying on government officials. He denied the charges.
(SFC, 11/12/96, p.A12)
1997 Jan 4, Czech Pres. Vaclav
Havel married his girlfriend Dagmar Veskrnova, less than a year
after the death of his first wife Olga Havlova. Dagmar was an
actress and had starred as a topless vampire in the film "The
Vampire from Nosferat."
(SFEC, 7/6/97, p.B4)(WSJ, 2/18/99, p.A1)
1997 Jan 19, The Czech film
“Kolya,” directed by Jan Sverak, won a Golden Globes award as the
best foreign language film of 1996 by the Hollywood Foreign Press
Association. Zdenek Sverak, Jan’s father, wrote the script and
played the leading role.
(SFC, 1/20/96, p.D2)
1997 Mar, The Czech national
currency, the koruna, was devalued 12%.
(SFC, 12/1/97, p.A13)
1997 Jul 8, NATO issued formal
invitations to Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary.
(SFC, 7/9/97, p.A1)
1997 Jul 10, Torrential rains
in Poland and the Czech Republic killed at least 39 people and
forced thousands from their homes. The village of Troubky was
devastated and 9 people died there.
(SFC, 7/11/97, p.A11)
1997 Jul 15, The Czech trade
deficit was labeled as the largest in the world relative to its
economy.
(SFC, 7/16/97, p.A1)
1997 Nov 30, Czech Prime
Minister Vaclav Klaus handed in his government’s resignation in the
wake of revelations that his party maintained a slush fund in
Switzerland and had received campaign donations from a businessman
buying a state-owned steel mill.
(SFC, 12/1/97, p.A13)(SFC, 12/2/97, p.A10)
1997 An alleged deal to ship
Czech radar systems to Iraq was stopped following a tip from Turkey.
(WSJ, 12/11/01, p.A15)
1997 In the Czech Rep. Tomas
Harabis, an itinerant photographer, founded the faux kingdom of
Wallachia and crowned Bolek Polivka, an actor and clown, as king of
Wallachia. Polivka had already crowned himself the Wallachian king,
Boleslav I, the Gracious Forever, on his TV show. In 2002 Polivka
went to court over the kingdom’s trademark. In 2008 a court ruled
the Polivka has no right to profit from any association with the
kingdom.
(SFC, 2/2/09, p.A2)
1998 Jan 2, Josef Tosovsky was
sworn in as the Czech prime minister. He pledged economic reforms,
privatization, and efforts to fight crime and corruption.
(SFC, 1/3/98, p.A10)
1998 Jan 20, Czech Pres. Vaclav
Havel won re-election by a slim margin in a 2nd round vote of
parliament.
(SFC, 1/21/98, p.C12)
1998 Jan 28, In the Czech
Republic prime minister Josef Tosovsky’s government won a vote of
confidence in the parliament 123-71.
(SFC, 1/29/98, p.A11)
1998 Feb, In the Czech Republic
a young Gypsy woman was pushed into the Elbe River by 3 skinheads.
Her body was recovered 2 days later. It was the 3rd attack on
Gypsies in 4 weeks. 3 suspects were detained.
(SFC, 2/18/98, p.C3)
1998 May, The Czech town of
Usti Nad Labem approved the building of a wall to separate itself
from the Gypsy neighborhood of Novy Svet. Completion was planned by
Sept. The wall was scheduled for removal in late 1999 and subsidies
were to be used to buy out the homes of non-Roma residents so they
could move elsewhere.
(SFEC, 7/19/98, p.A3)(SFC, 11/24/99, p.C6)
1998 Jun 21, The Social
Democrats placed first in Czech parliamentary elections.
(WSJ, 6/22/98, p.A1)
1998 Oct, US-funded Radio Free
Europe/Radio Liberty began broadcasting Radio Free Iraq daily from
Prague.
(SFC, 11/28/98, p.C1)(AP, 11/30/09)
1998 A Russian businessman was
arrested and charged with illegally selling 365 surplus Czech
armored rocket launchers to North Korea and China through
Prague-based businesses.
(WSJ, 12/11/01, p.A15)
1999 Mar 12, Poland, Hungary
and the Czech Republic formally joined NATO in a ceremony at
Independence, Mo., where Pres. Truman announced in 1949 the
formation of the Atlantic alliance for defense against the Soviet
bloc.
(SFC, 3/11/99, p.C14)
1999 Mar, The Czech firm
Agroplast was accused of trying to ship 6 Kazak MiG fighter planes
to North Korea. The planes were confiscated. Agroplast denied the
allegations.
(WSJ, 12/11/01, p.A15)
1999 Nov 20, Some 30 Czech
skinheads broke into a restaurant in Ceske Budejovice and attacked a
party of Gypsies. This prompted a dozen Roma families to leave the
area and ask for asylum elsewhere.
(SFC, 12/1/99, p.C3)
2000 Sep 15, Truckers across
Europe blocked highways to protest high fuel costs. Protests hit
Spain, Germany, Ireland, Poland and the Czech Republic.
(SFC, 9/16/00, p.A10)
2000 Sep 22, Hundreds of
anti-nuclear protestors from Austria, Germany and the Czech Republic
called for a halt to activation of the Temelin plant located near
the Austrian border to allow for safety and environmental tests.
(SFC, 9/23/00, p.A12)
2000 Sep 23, World Bank and IMF
leaders gathered in Prague for a summit amidst protests. They issued
a communique on currency markets and oil prices.
(SFEC, 9/24/00, p.d15)
2000 Sep 26, The annual
meetings of the World Bank and IMF officials officially opened in
Prague with delegates from 182 nations. Protestors numbered far less
than the expected 20,000. An estimated 6,000 protestors battled
police with homemade gasoline bombs and cobblestones from the
streets.
(SFC, 9/26/00, p.A11)(SFC, 9/27/00, p.A14)
2000 Sep 27, In Prague IMF and
World Bank officials ended their meetings a day early due to
disruptions by protestors. Some 600 demonstrators were arrested from
an estimated total of 12,000.
(SFC, 9/28/00, p.C2)
2000 Oct, The Czech Temelin
nuclear power plant was turned on despite protests from Austria.
Malfunctions triggered 2 shutdowns in Dec.
(SFC, 2/26/01, p.C14)
2000 Dec 20, Jiri Hodac was
appointed by the Czech parliament as the new chief of television.
Broadcast journalists went on strike the next day in anger over the
appointment due to Hodac’s political bias and sympathies to Vaclav
Kraus, the former premier.
(SFC, 12/30/00, p.A12)(SFC, 12/31/00, p.B9)
2000 The Czech Security
Information Service (BIS) learned that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein
planned to use an anti-tank rocket to attack the US-funded Radio
Free Europe/Radio Liberty in Prague and warned Hussein that they
were aware of his plans.
(AP, 11/30/09)
2001 Jan 3, In Prague some
100,000 people gathered in Wenceslas Square to support the striking
TV journalists.
(SFC, 1/4/01, p.A8)
2001 Jan 11, Jiri Hodac
resigned as the chief of television. Over 50,000 Czech protestors
continued to demonstrate in Wenceslas Square for guarantees of
political independence for public television.
(SFC, 1/12/01, p.A17)
2001 Jan 13, The lower chamber
of parliament dismissed the council that oversaw Czech Television
and amended a law on how the council is appointed.
(SSFC, 1/14/01, p.D4)
2001 Jan 18, The Czech Temelin
nuclear power plant was shut down due to vibrations in the main
turbine generator. It resumed operations on Feb 25.
(SFC, 2/26/01, p.C14)
2001 Apr 22, Ahmed Khalil
Ibrahim Samir al-Ani, an Iraqi diplomat, was expelled from the Czech
Republic. He was later reported to have met with Mohamed Atta and
planned an attack on Radio Free Europe. Five others were
expelled in March 2003.
(SFC, 11/10/01, p.A5)(AP, 11/30/09)
2001 Apr, Customs agents in
Bulgaria confiscated a transport plane from the Czech Republic with
6 howitzers and a cache of AK-47 rifles. The plane was scheduled to
go to Georgia but had flight plans for Eritrea.
(WSJ, 12/11/01, p.A15)
2001 Oct, The FDA approved
tenofovir (Viread), made by Gilead Sciences, to fight HIV. It
blocked a key enzyme in HIV called reverse transcriptase. Gilead
acquired it from Czech chemist Antonin Holy and turned it into a
once-a-day pill.
(SFC, 7/14/04, p.A14)
2001 Nov 4, It was reported
that both Poland and the Czech Republic would send military forces
to assist the US in Afghanistan.
(WSJ, 11/5/01, p.A17)
2001 Pernod Ricard SA acquired
the Polish vodka Wyborova, Czech bitters Jan Becher and Seagram’s
Martell cognac and Chivas scotch.
(WSJ, 9/7/05, p.B2)
2002 Mar 31, Men in the Czech
Republic chased female relatives and friends for the traditional
Easter leg thwacking.
(WSJ, 3/28/02, p.A1)
2002 Jun 14, Czech exit polls
showed the Social Democrats, who favor quick entry into the European
Union, headed for victory in parliamentary elections where 6,000
candidates sought all 200 seats in the lower chamber. Voters backed
the ruling Social Democrats in parliamentary elections, and also
gave the Communist Party its best showing since the collapse of
communism in 1989.
(AP, 6/14/02)(AP, 6/15/02)
2002 Jun 27, The mayor of the
Bavarian town of Roeckingen, who has been missing since early March,
was found dead in a forest in the western Czech Republic, police
said Thursday.
(AP, 6/27/02)
2002 Aug 11, Jiri Kolar (87), a
Czech poet and artist known mainly for his pioneering work in the
art of collage, died in Prague. His poetry books included "Birth
Certificate" (1941)
(AP, 8/12/02)
2002 Aug 13, Vltava River
floodwaters poured into a historic part of Prague, despite the
frantic efforts of rescue workers to save the ancient Czech capital
from rising river levels, which have forced tens of thousands to
flee.
(Reuters, 8/13/02)(AP, 8/13/02)
2002 Oct 9, The European
Union's executive Commission declared Bulgaria, the Czech Republic,
Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania,
Slovenia, and Slovakia nearly ready for EU membership and
recommended they be invited to join in 2004. Romania and Bulgaria
likely will be delayed until 2007 because of weak economies, the
Commission said, adding Turkey was the weakest link among
candidates.
(AP, 10/9/02)
2002 Oct 26, In the Czech
Republic the race for a third of the seats in the Czech Parliament's
upper chamber had a record low turnout of 24 percent.
(AP, 10/26/02)
2002 Nov 2, In the Czech
Republic the opposition center-right Civic Democratic Party won 9
Senate seats in elections for 26 of 81 seats, costing the governing
coalition its majority in Parliament's upper house in a result that
could influence the choice of a successor to President Vaclav Havel.
(AP, 11/3/02)
2002 Nov 20, On the eve of a
NATO summit in the Czech Republic, President Bush, recalling
Europe's grim history of "excusing aggression," challenged skeptical
allies to stand firm against Saddam Hussein.
(WSJ, 11/20/02, p.A1)(AP, 11/20/03)
2002 Nov 22, At the NATO summit
in Prague, Russian President Vladimir Putin told President Bush the
United States should not wage war alone against Iraq, and questioned
whether Pakistan and Saudi Arabia were doing enough to fight
terrorism.
(AP, 11/22/03)
2002 Dec 13, The EU reached
agreement to accept 10 new countries in 2004. These included Czech
Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta,
Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia.
(SFC, 12/14/02, p.A3)
2003 Jan 18, The Czech
Republic's ruling party nominated former PM Milos Zeman as its new
candidate to replace President Vaclav Havel.
(AP, 1/18/03)
2003 Jan 24, Czech lawmakers
failed for a 2nd time to pick a successor to pres. Havel.
(WSJ, 1/27/03, p.A1)
2003 Jan 24, In Prague, former
Communist Interior Minister Jaromir Obzina (73) died of cancer. In
2001 Obzina was charged with abuse of power for his role in an
operation aimed to crush political dissent between 1978 and 1984.
The "Asanace" (Sanitation) program focused on some 50 dissidents,
signatories of the Charter 77 human rights manifesto, resorting to
threats and harsh interrogations to intimidate them and force them
to leave the country.
(AP, 1/29/03)
2003 Feb 2, Vaclav Havel
stepped down after 13 years as president of the Czech Republic.
(AP, 2/2/03)
2003 Feb 28, Czech
lawmakers elected opposition candidate Vaclav Klaus as president,
succeeding former president and long time rival Vaclav Havel.
(AP, 2/28/03)
2003 Mar 6, Zdenek
Adamec (19) set himself on fire in downtown Prague on to protest the
Czech political situation and what he called the domination of the
wealthy in the world.
(AP, 3/6/03)
2003 Mar 8, In the Czech
Republic a bus accident near Ceske Budejovice left 17 dead. 2 more
people soon died from injuries sustained in the crash.
(AP, 3/9/03)
2003 Mar 20, The Czech Interior
Ministry published a list of some 75,000 people identified as agents
of the former communist secret police, the STB.
(AP, 3/20/03)
2003 Apr 8, A jobless man died
in a southern Czech village after setting himself on fire in the
sixth case of self-immolation in recent weeks.
(AP, 4/8/03)
2003 Apr, Officials at the
Iraqi Embassy in Prague handed over weapons to Czech authorities.
Iraqi spies had used a diplomatic vehicle to smuggle in the weapons
for an attack on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. The weapons
included an RPG-7 anti-tank missile, six machine guns and
ammunition.
(AP, 11/30/09)
2003 Jun 13-2003 Jun 14, Czechs
voted in a two-day referendum on whether their country of 10 million
should join the European Union. They voted overwhelmingly to join
the European Union. 77.33% of voters approved the measure, while
22.67 voted no. Turnout was 55.21 percent.
(AP, 6/13/03)(AP, 6/14/03)(AP, 6/15/03)
2003 Jul 26, Jiri Horak (79),
the first leader of the Czech Social Democratic Party (190-1992)
after the fall of communism, died in Florida.
(AP, 7/26/03)
2003 Oct 28, Czech Independence
Day. Cathrin Schauer published her book “Children Walk the Streets,”
a chronicle of child prostitution along the Czech-German border.
(WPR, 3/04, p.45)
2003 Vladimir Spidla became
prime minister of the Czech Republic.
(Econ, 4/9/05, p.43)
2004 Jan 1, Jiri Loewy (73), a
Czech journalist who campaigned against communism from exile, died
in Germany.
(AP, 1/3/04)
2004 Feb 11, Jozef Lenart (80),
a former Czechoslovak prime minister cleared of treason charges for
his alleged role in the 1968 Soviet-led invasion that crushed the
country's democratic movement, died. He served as prime minister of
Czechoslovakia from 1963-1968 and headed the Slovak Communist Party
until 1988. A Slovak national he acquired Czech citizenship after
Czechoslovakia split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993.
(AP, 2/12/04)
2004 Mar 12, Karel Kachyna
(79), Czech filmmaker, died in Prague. His films included "Chariot
to Vienna" and "The Ear."
(SFC, 2/13/04, p.B8)
2004 Apr 1, A gas explosion
ripped through a refinery in Iraq while it was being inspected by
Czech engineers, killing one and injuring two others.
(AP, 4/5/04)
2004 Apr 27, Russian Foreign
Minister Sergey Lavrov and EU officials signed an accord extending
the EU-Russia partnership accord to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania,
Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Cyprus and
Malta, which join May 1.
(AP, 4/27/04)
2004 May 1, Revelers across
ex-communist eastern Europe celebrated their historic entry to the
European Union. 10 new members (Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia,
Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia)
joined. Malta joined with 70 exemptions to EU rules. Poland had 43
exemptions. Latvia had 32. The Turkish occupied area of Cyprus was
suspended from entry.
(AP, 5/1/04)(Econ, 2/28/04, p.50)(Econ, 4/16/05,
p.16)
2004 Jun 26, Czech PM Vladimir
Spidla resigned after his Social Democrats did badly in EU
elections.
(Econ, 7/3/04, p.6)
2004 Jul 26, Czech President
Vaclav Klaus named Social Democrat leader Stanislav Gross (B.1969)
as the country's next prime minister, making him Europe's youngest
leader and paving the way for a new center-left government.
(www.e-paranoids.com/s/st/stanislav_gross.html)
2004 Aug 22, Ota Sik (b.1920)
Czech economist and painter, died in St. Gallen, Switz.
(SFC, 8/25/04, p.B7)
2004 Sep 9, A military Lynx
helicopter crashed near the city of Brno in the Czech Republic,
killing six British soldiers.
(AP, 9/9/04)
2004 The film “Cesky Sen” (The
Czech Dream) documented a bogus hypermarket created by film students
Filip Remunda and Vit Klusak.
(Econ, 8/7/04, p.43)
2005 Jan 1, The Czech Republic
was forecast for 4.1% GDP growth with a population at 10.2 million
and GDP per head at $11,960.
(Econ, 1/8/05, p.87)
2005 Jan 14, Prague Mayor Pavel
Bem got a close-up look at how the city's notorious taxi drivers
operate this week when he went undercover for a ride and was
overcharged by some 500 percent.
(Reuters, 1/14/05)
2005 Apr 2, The Czech
information minister resigned, becoming the 4th Czech government
member to do so this week in fallout over a scandal surrounding PM
Stanislav Gross' luxury apartment.
(AP, 4/2/05)
2005 Apr 9, Czech PM Stanislav
Gross said he would resign and make way for a new coalition
government because of a scandal surrounding the financing of his
luxury apartment.
(AP, 4/9/05)
2005 Apr 25, Jiri Paroubek (52)
was officially named as the new Czech prime minister. Paroubek,
local development minister in Gross's government and deputy chairman
of the Social Democrats (CSSD), became the country's third prime
minister in nine months.
(AFP, 4/25/05)
2005 May 15, The Czech Republic
denied Canada its third straight title and won the world ice hockey
championship 3-0 in Vienna, Austria.
(AP, 5/15/06)
2005 Jul 30, The CzechTek rave,
attended by some 5000 fans, was broken up by some 1000 riot police.
(Econ, 8/13/05, p.44)(http://czechtek.muzika.cz/)
2005 Nov 1, The first Czech
online daily without a paper edition, Aktualne.cz, was launched
overnight.
(AFP, 11/1/05)
2005 Dec 31, In Slovakia 7
tourists from the Czech Republic died in avalanches in the Tatra
mountains. A day earlier a German was killed by an avalanche in the
Swiss Alps.
(AFP, 12/31/05)
2006 Jan 19, India said that it
had agreed to pay the Czech Republic 20 million dollars to resolve a
trade dispute dating back to the Cold War. The move was announced at
the end of a three-day visit by Czech President Jiri Paroubek.
(AFP, 1/19/06)
2006 Apr 3, Czech officials
declared a state of emergency in seven flood-hit regions while
rivers continued to rise in neighboring European countries, forcing
evacuations in some areas. Flooding was also reported in Germany,
Poland, Hungary, Austria and Slovakia.
(AP, 4/3/06)
2006 Apr 14, Cuba ordered the
expulsion of a Czech diplomat, accusing him of spying for the United
States. Stanislav Kazecky, who was in charge of political, cultural
and media affairs for the Czech embassy, was given 72 hours to
leave.
(AP, 4/14/06)
2006 May 6, Gen. Frantisek
Perina (b.1911), a Czech WWII fighter ace who fought against Nazi
Germany in the French and British air forces died in Prague.
(AP, 5/6/06)
2006 Jun 2, Czechs cast ballots
in a tight parliamentary race that revealed deep divisions over
whether the nation needs bold reforms or the status quo. A forecast
predicted the right wing Civic Democratic party of Mirek Topolanek
would win legislative elections with 38% of the vote.
(AP, 6/2-3/06)
2006 Jun 4, The Czech republic
faced weeks of uncertainty or even fresh elections after a deadlock
between center-right and leftist parties in weekend general
elections.
(AP, 6/4/06)
2006 Jun 5, Czech opposition
leader Mirk Topolanek, whose party narrowly won the weekend's
parliamentary elections, said he would seek a governing coalition.
His Civic Democrats allied with the Christian Democrats and Greens
took 100 seats of the lower house.
(AP, 6/5/06)(Econ, 6/10/06, p.50)
2006 Jul 26, Jessica Gilbert
(19), a British chess prodigy, fell from an eighth-floor hotel room
window in the Czech Republic where she was competing in an
international chess tournament. Her death took place days before the
trial of her father, whom she had accused of rape, was to begin. In
December Ian Gilbert (48), a director of the Royal Bank of Scotland,
was acquitted of 5 counts of raping Jessica, while she was still a
child, and 6 sexual offences against other people.
(AP, 12/15/06)
2006 Aug 24, Leading
astronomers meeting in Prague declared that Pluto is no longer a
planet under historic new guidelines that downsize the solar system
from nine planets to eight.
(AP, 8/24/06)
2006 Sep 17, In northern
Austria a Czech bus veered off a road and into a ditch, killing 4
people and injuring 38.
(AP, 9/17/06)
2006 Sep 19, Cambodia's King
Norodom Sihamoni started the official part of a week-long visit to
the Czech Republic, a country where he spent 13 years from 1962-1975
and considers as his "second home."
(AP, 9/19/06)
2006 Oct 3, The Czech Republic
edged closer to early elections after PM Mirek Topolanek's rightist
minority government was toppled in a parliamentary confidence vote.
(Reuters, 10/3/06)
2006 Oct 27, The Czech
Republic's center-right Civic Democratic Party won 14 seats and
gained a simple majority in runoff elections for parliament's upper
chamber.
(AP, 10/28/06)
2006 Dec 12, Czech president
Vaclav Klaus pledged to forge closer ties with Prague's biggest
African trade partner as he became the first leader from the eastern
European nation to visit South Africa.
(AP, 12/12/06)
2006 In the Czech Rep. police
raided 416 methamphetamine labs during the year as opposed to 19
raids in 2000. Meth abuse in the Czech Rep. was the worst in Europe.
(SFC, 11/23/07, p.A19)
2007 Jan 20, Czech PM Mirek
Topolanek said the US wants to build a radar base in the Czech
Republic as part of its global missile defense system. Poland was
also mentioned as a potential site. Russia in response warned of an
arms race.
(AP, 1/20/07)(WSJ, 1/22/07, p.A1)
2007 Feb 19, Gen. Nikolai
Solovtsov, a top Russian general, warned that Poland and the Czech
Republic risk being targeted by Russian missiles if they agree to
host a proposed US missile defense system.
(AP, 2/19/07)
2007 May 9, Pakistan and the
Czech Republic agreed to boost diplomatic links and promote
relations in trade, health and science.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 Jun 5, US President George
W. Bush sought to soothe Moscow's fury at Washington's plans to
extend its anti-missile shield in Europe, saying in Prague on the
eve of the G8 summit that Russia was "not our enemy."
(AFP, 6/5/07)
2007 Jul 28, Libya said the
Czech Republic, Qatar and Bulgaria contributed to an international
fund to support hundreds of children who contracted HIV at a Libyan
hospital in the 1990s. Libya also denounced a decision by Bulgaria's
president to pardon six medics from life jail terms in an AIDS case
as a "betrayal" and an "illegal procedure."
(Reuters, 7/28/07)(AFP, 7/28/07)
2007 Aug 22, Russia nominated
Josef Tosovsky, a former Czech prime minister and head of that
country's central bank, to head the International Monetary Fund, a
move that put the Kremlin and the European Union at odds. The Czech
Republic repudiated the move and endorsed the EU’s choice.
(AP, 8/22/07)(WSJ, 8/23/07, p.A1)
2007 Nov 10, In the Czech Rep.
neo-Nazis trying to march through the Jewish quarter of Prague
clashed with groups trying to stop them, and at least 80 people were
arrested in outbreaks of violence around the capital.
(AP, 11/10/07)
2007 Dec 9, A charter aircraft
flying from the Czech Republic crashed near Kiev airport in Ukraine
killing at least 5 people.
(AFP, 12/9/07)
2007 Dec 20, Estonia, Hungary,
Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia and the Czech
Republic halted land and sea border controls at midnight in a wave
of new members of Europe's passport-free Schengen zone. They all
joined the EU on May 1, 2004.
(AFP, 12/20/07)(WSJ, 12/21/07, p.A1)
2007 Milan Kundera (b.1929),
Czechoslovakia born writer, authored “The Curtain: An Essay in Seven
Parts,” an extended essay on the art of the novel.
(WSJ, 2/10/07, p.P8)(Econ, 3/10/07, p.83)
2007 The population in the
Czech Rep. stood at about 10.2 million.
(SFC, 11/23/07, p.A19)
2008 Feb 15, Czech President
Vaclav Klaus won a second five-year term. Lawmakers chose him over a
University of Michigan economics professor.
(AP, 2/16/08)
2008 Feb 25, Czech PM Mirek
Topolanek said he will complete a deal on missile defense this week
in Washington, and attributed Russian opposition to the project to
lingering frustration over the collapse of the Soviet Union. During
his visit Topolanek signed a memorandum of understanding that will
allow Czechs to apply for a US visa waiver online.
(AP, 2/25/08)(Econ, 3/8/08, p.61)
2008 Mar 1, A violent storm
plagued parts of Europe and deaths rose to 10 after two people in
Poland were killed by falling objects because of hurricane-strength
winds. Germany reported 2 deaths, the Czech Rep. 2 deaths and 4 more
in Austria.
(AP, 3/2/08)
2008 Apr 3, President Bush won
NATO's endorsement for his plan to build a missile defense system in
Europe over Russian objections. The proposal also advanced with
Czech officials announcing an agreement to install a missile
tracking site for the system in their country. NATO decided not to
put Georgia and Ukraine on track to join the alliance after vehement
Russian opposition, but the alliance pledged that the strategically
important Black Sea nations will become members one day.
(AP, 4/3/08)
2008 Jul 8, The United States
and the Czech Republic signed a treaty in Prague allowing Washington
to build part of a missile defense shield in the central European
state despite opposition from its former Cold War master Russia.
(Reuters, 7/8/08)
2008 Jul 11, The Czech
Republic’s Industry and Trade Ministry announced that Russia has
reduced its oil shipments to the country without providing an
explanation. The cutback was announced three days after the nation
signed a military agreement with Washington that the Kremlin
strongly opposes. Russia later said the supplies dropped because 2
Russian firms had decided to refine more crude at home.
(AP, 7/11/08)(WSJ, 7/15/08, p.A9)
2008 Jul 19, Czech police said
a 21-year-old British man, wanted for child sex and pornography
offences in Britain, has been detained in a Prague suburb where he
had been in hiding for two years.
(AFP, 7/19/08)
2008 Aug 8, In the Czech
Republic an international express train crashed into a collapsed
bridge, killing at least six people and injuring dozens.
(Reuters, 8/8/08)
2008 Sep 1, Thomas Bata (93),
the Czech-born industrialist who headed the global shoe empire
bearing his family's name from the 1940s to the 1980s, died in
Toronto. The company's headquarters were moved to Toronto under
Bata's leadership when the family's Czech factories were
nationalized by the communists. The company returned to the Czech
Republic in 1989 after the end of communist rule.
(Reuters, 9/2/08)
2008 Sep 25, The Czech
counterintelligence service said Russian spies operating in the
Czech Republic have tried to increase public opposition to a planned
US missile defense facility. Most Czechs oppose the base, according
to recent polls. The Czech Republic's government has approved the
missile defense treaty, but it still requires the approval of the
Czech parliament, where it faces strong opposition.
(AP, 9/25/08)
2008 Dec 19, The lower chamber
of Czech parliament failed to extend a mandate for the deployment of
the country's troops in Afghanistan, Iraq and other foreign missions
for next year, meaning the soldiers will leave soon.
(AP, 12/21908)
2009 Jan 1, The Czech Republic
took over the six-month rotating presidency from EU heavyweight
France. It will face the daunting task of implementing a $258
billion European economic stimulus package approved by EU leaders
under the French presidency.
(AP, 12/31/08)
2009 Jan 4, Russia asked the EU
to provide monitoring of Ukraine's gas transit system and charged
Ukraine was stealing gas bound for Europe, as Kiev leveled its own
charges. Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said that the state-controlled
company wanted $450 per 1,000 cubic meters, up from its last offer
of $418. The reductions in gas supplies spread to the Czech Republic
and Turkey.
(AP, 1/4/09)(Reuters, 1/4/09)
2009 Jan 14, Jan Kaplicky
(b.1937), a British-based Czech architect, died in Prague just hours
after his wife Eliska gave birth to their daughter Johanka. He
designed the award-winning media center at Lord's cricket ground in
London.
(AP, 1/15/09)
2009 Jan 20, In Belgium the
“Entropa” art installation at the EU headquarters, by Czech artist
David Cerny, covered up the part that showed Bulgaria as a squat
toilet after protests from the aggrieved nation.
(AP, 1/20/09)
2009 Feb 27, Leading
international financial institutions said Eastern Europe's
struggling banks will receive euro24.5 billion ($31.1 billion) worth
of emergency help to shore up their battered finances. Regional
leaders were scheduled to meet this weekend. The Hungarian, Polish
and Czech currencies strengthened on the news of the aid package.
(AP, 2/27/09)
2009 Mar 24, The Czech
government collapsed after losing a parliamentary no-confidence vote
over its handling of the economic crisis.
(AP, 3/25/09)
2009 Mar 25, Czech PM Mirek
Topolanek, the current rotating president of the EU, slammed US
plans to spend its way out of recession as "a road to hell."
(AP, 3/25/09)
2009 Apr 5, In the Czech Rep.
President Barack Obama set out his vision for ridding the world of
nuclear arms, declaring the US ready to lead steps by all states
with atomic weapons to reduce their arsenals. Obama said the US will
proceed with development of a missile defense system in Europe as
long as there is an Iranian threat of nuclear weapons. Obama also
urged the EU to accept Turkey as a full member of the 27-nation
bloc, in remarks rejected outright by France and met coolly by
Germany.
(AP, 4/5/09)
2009 Apr 9, Czech Pres. Vaclav
Klaus appointed nonpartisan Jan Fischer (58) as prime minister. He
will replace Mirek Topolanek on May 9.
(WSJ, 4/10/09, p.A8)
2009 Apr 24, David Duke (59),
the former Grand Wizard of the Louisiana-founded Knights of the Ku
Klux Klan, arrived in Prague at the invitation of a local far-right
group, Narodni Odpor (National Resistance). He was soon arrested and
questioned for several hours on suspicion of promoting movements
seeking the suppression of human rights. Duke was freed during the
night and forced to leave the country the next day.
(AFP, 4/25/09)
2009 May 20, EU and Chinese
leaders met in Prague to tackle the economic crisis and turn the
page on tensions over the Dalai Lama. Lingering differences cast a
shadow over the talks.
(AFP, 5/20/09)
2009 Jun 26, Holocaust
survivors, Jewish groups and experts gathered in Prague to assess
efforts to return property and possessions stolen by the Nazis to
their rightful owners or heirs.
(AP, 6/26/09)
2009 Jul 15, The EU urged
Canada to restore visa-free travel for Czech visitors, removed by
Ottawa after hundreds of Roma from the central European country
sought asylum.
(Reuters, 7/15/09)
2009 Aug 17, Czech media
reported that two Russians have been ordered out of Prague,
including a deputy military attache. Prague has previously
complained about an increase in Russian spying that it linked to the
US plans. Russia responded by ordering two Czech diplomats out of
Russia.
(Reuters, 8/18/09)
2009 Sep 17, Pres. Obama said
he is abandoning Bush-era plans for a long-range missile defense
system based in Poland and the Czech Rep. Czechs and Poles expressed
rancor and relief that Obama was scrapping plans for the US missile
defense shield on their territories, reflecting deep divisions over
a proposal that had angered Russia.
(AP, 9/17/09)(SFC, 9/18/09, p.A7)
2009 Sep 26, Pope Benedict XVI
criticized the communist era's fierce religious persecution as he
began a three-day pilgrimage to the Czech Republic, and urged the
heavily secular nation to rediscover its Christian roots.
(AP, 9/26/09)
2009 Oct 9, Czech Rep. Pres.
Vaclav Klaus set out his terms for signing the Lisbon Treaty,
demanding an exemption to protect Prague from post-war property
claims and safeguard the sovereignty of the judiciary.
(Reuters, 10/10/09)
2009 Oct 23, The Czech Republic
and NATO said that they backed a reworked US missile defense plan
meant to defend against threats from Iran and other nations.
(AP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 29, The EU's stalled
reform treaty overcame a crucial hurdle after EU leaders agreed to
last-minute demands from the Czech Republic in return for the
country's ratification of the ambitious deal. Czech President Vaclav
Klaus had refused to sign the treaty until his country was an
offered an opt-out from its Charter of Fundamental Rights. The Czech
leader asked for the option over worries of property claims by
ethnic Germans stripped of their land and expelled after World War
II.
(AP, 10/29/09)
2009 Oct 29, In the Czech Rep.
farmers sprayed milk onto fields across the country to protest low
prices.
(SFC, 10/30/09, p.A2)
2009 Nov 3, Czech President
Vaclav Klaus signed the EU reform treaty, completing the
ratification process of a charter designed to transform Europe into
a more unified and powerful global player.
(AP, 11/3/09)
2009 Dec 20, Four of the
world's last known 8 northern white rhinos landed in Kenya and were
transported to a game park. No white rhinos are known to remain in
the wild, and the animals transported have produced no offspring
after nearly 24 years in a Czech zoo. Officials hoped the endangered
mammals will reproduce and save their subspecies. Two northern
whites remained behind; two others are in San Diego.
(AP, 12/20/09)
2010 Jan 1, In the Czech Rep.
liberalized drug laws went into effect. Those caught with small
amounts of drugs intended for personal use faced only a fine.
(Econ, 8/28/10, p.44)
2010 Jan 13, Amnesty Int’l.
said the Czech Republic is defying a European court by continuing to
place thousands of healthy Gypsy children in schools for the
mentally disabled.
(SFC, 1/14/10, p.A2)
2010 Mar 24, The US and Russia
reached a breakthrough agreement for a historic treaty to reduce
their nuclear arsenals. Prague announced it will host the signing of
a new US-Russian treaty to reduce long-range nuclear weapons. The
deal would replace the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.
(AP, 3/24/10)(SFC, 3/25/10, p.A10)
2010 Apr 8, In Prague President
Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed the
biggest nuclear arms pact in a generation and envisioned a day when
they can compromise on the divisive issue of missile defense. Obama
and Medvedev warned Iran of possible sanctions over its nuclear
program shortly after signing the disarmament deal.
(AP, 4/8/10)(AFP, 4/8/10)
2010 Apr 27, Czech Republic
vice premier Martin Bartak said the government has approved an
agreement with the United States on scientific cooperation in
defense research.
(AP, 4/27/10)
2010 May 18, In southern Poland
2 days of flooding killed at least five people. Officials closed the
Auschwitz-Birkenau memorial site to protect its Holocaust archives
and artifacts. Heavy rains that began in central Europe last weekend
also caused flooding in areas of Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech
Republic, with rivers bursting their banks and inundating low-lying
homes and roads, and cutting off villages.
(AP, 5/18/10)
2010 Jun 9, In Prague
nonbinding international rules for returning real estate stolen by
the Nazis were presented following agreement by 40 countries.
(AP, 6/9/10)
2010 Aug 9, In central Europe
swollen rivers surged north after carving a swath of destruction
across Poland, Germany and the Czech Republic. At least 11 people
were reported killed.
(AP, 8/9/10)(SFC, 8/9/10, p.A2)
2010 Oct 23, In the Czech
Republic opposition Social Democrats won an election for one-third
of Parliament's upper house, gaining a majority in the Senate for
the first time. Voters were selecting 27 senators for the 81-seat
Senate in the two-day balloting. The top two finishers from last
week's first round were facing runoffs.
(AP, 10/23/10)
2010 Oct 26, The Czech Republic
became the second European Union country after Spain to grant asylum
to a Cuban political prisoner. Jimenez Posada, a lawyer, arrived
with his wife, brother, son and niece. He was arrested in 2003 and
received a 12-year prison term three years later for subversion.
(AP, 10/26/10)
2010 Nov 3, The Czech
Parliament approved a government plan to increase the number of
Czech troops in Afghanistan during the next two years. It allows the
deployment of up to 720 service members in Afghanistan in 2011, and
up to 640 in 2012. The current mandate was no more than 535.
(AP, 11/3/10)
2010 Nov 4, In the Czech Rep. a
two-day informal gathering of NATO experts opened in Prague. They
planned to consider the impacts of defense budget cuts by member
countries.
(AP, 11/4/10)
2010 Nov 10, Human rights
groups said they have filed a complaint with the EU accusing the
Czech government of failing to comply with a court order that it
stop placing thousands of healthy Roma children in schools for the
mentally disabled.
(SFC, 11/11/10, p.A2)
2010 Dec, In the Czech Rep.
4,000 hospital physicians delivered resignations to protest low pay
with an effective start time in March. Their current starting salary
was about 4 euros per hour ($5.25).
(SSFC, 12/26/10, p.F4)
2011 Jan 8, Former Czech
foreign minister Jiri Dienstbier (b.1937) died. The reporter turned
dissident had joined Vaclav Havel to help topple one of East
Europe's most repressive regimes, and then served under Havel in
Czechoslovakia's first post-communist government.
(AP, 1/9/11)
2011 Mar 24, The Czech Interior
Ministry said Ales Mikhalevich has been given political refugee
status. The Belarus political activist had been jailed and beaten
after running against Alexander Lukashenko in presidential
elections. Mikhalevich was released on Feb 19.
(AP, 3/24/11)
2011 Apr 20, In the Czech Rep.
a huge nitroglycerine explosion occurred at an explosives factory in
Pardubice, leaving nine people injured and four missing.
(AP, 4/20/11)
2011 Jun 15, The Czech Rep.
said it is withdrawing from US missile defense plans out of
frustration at its diminished role.
(SFC, 6/16/11, p.A2)
2011 Aug 13, The Czech
Republic’s first gay pride parade was held in Prague under strong
police guard as some 3,000 gays and lesbians marched through the
city center.
(SSFC, 8/14/11, p.A5)
Go to
http://www.timelinesdb.com
Subject = Czech Rep.
End of file