The market reformer who rejected a third way
“We want a market economy without any adjectives.”
Václav Klaus was a Czech economist and politician who represented a radical route from state socialism to a market economy after 1989. He founded the Civic Democratic Party, helped lead the dissolution of Czechoslovakia, and later served as Czech prime minister and president. He sympathized with the Prague Spring's political liberalization but rejected its economic Third Way, a position that shaped the transition's call for an unqualified market economy and the subsequent Czech conservative line. As president, he challenged European integration and climate policy while emphasizing national sovereignty and markets.
Career Timeline
- 1963Graduated from the Prague University of Economics
- 1971–1986Staff positions at the State Bank of Czechoslovakia
- 1987–1989Analyst at the Institute for Prognostics of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences
- 1989–1991Finance Minister of Czechoslovakia
- 1991–2002Founding chairman of the Civic Democratic Party
- 1992–1998Prime Minister of the Czech Republic
- 1998–2002President of the Chamber of Deputies
- 2003–2013President of the Czech Republic