Global InformationBohuslav Sobotka information
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Bohuslav Sobotka | |
|---|---|
 Sobotka in 2017 | |
| Prime Minister of the Czech Republic | |
| In office 17 January 2014 – 13 December 2017 | |
| President | Miloš Zeman |
| Deputy | Andrej Babiš (2014–17) Pavel Bělobrádek Richard Brabec |
| Preceded by | Jiří Rusnok |
| Succeeded by | Andrej Babiš |
| Leader of the Social Democratic Party | |
| In office 29 May 2010 – 15 June 2017 Acting: 29 May 2010 – 21 March 2011 | |
| Preceded by | Jiří Paroubek |
| Succeeded by | Milan Chovanec |
| In office 26 April 2005 – 13 May 2006 Acting | |
| Preceded by | Stanislav Gross |
| Succeeded by | Jiří Paroubek |
| Minister of Industry and Trade Acting | |
| In office 1 March 2017 – 4 April 2017 | |
| Prime Minister | Himself |
| Preceded by | Jan Mládek |
| Succeeded by | Jiří Havlíček |
| Minister of Finance | |
| In office 12 July 2002 – 4 September 2006 | |
| Prime Minister | Vladimír Špidla Stanislav Gross Jiří Paroubek |
| Preceded by | Jiří Rusnok |
| Succeeded by | Vlastimil Tlustý |
| Member of the Chamber of Deputies | |
| In office 1 June 1996 – 31 March 2018 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 23 October 1971 Telnice, Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic) |
| Political party | Social Democratic Party |
| Spouse |
Olga Pekárková
(m. 2003; div. 2018) |
| Children | 2 |
| Alma mater | Masaryk University |
| Signature |  |
| Website | Official website |
Bohuslav Sobotka (Czech pronunciation: [ˈboɦuslaf ˈsobotka]; born October 23 October 1971) is a Czech politician and lawyer who served as the prime minister of the Czech Republic from January 2014 to December 2017 and Leader of the 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 Vladimír Špidla in 2002, Sobotka was appointed Finance Minister and then in 2003, he was promoted to the position of the Deputy Prime Minister, reappointed Finance Minister in both cabinets of Social Democratic Prime Ministers Stanislav Gross and Jiří Paroubek. In 2005, he was appointed the First Deputy Prime Minister in Paroubek's government. After the 2006 legislative election, Sobotka became an opposition MP, and in 2011, he was elected as the Leader of the Social Democrats, and thus stood as the Leader of the Opposition to the Cabinet of Petr Nečas.
Following the 2013 Czech legislative election, Sobotka was appointed prime minister on January 17, 2014, by the President and twelve days later, he formed a center-left Coalition Government consisting of SSD, ANO 2011 and KDU-ČSL. His government introduced a series of measures aimed at tackling tax evasion, such as electronic registration of sales or a VAT control system, strengthened relations with China, reformed the police, repealed the Civil Service Act, and enforced the smoking ban. He also frequently clashed with President Miloš Zeman regarding the Russian intervention in Ukraine and resulting sanctions, domestic policy and Sobotka's withdrawn resignation in May 2017. Sobotka is the first prime minister in 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 opinion polling prior to the 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.