Czechia

• temperate;
• cool summers;
• cold, cloudy, humid winters

• air and water pollution in areas of northwest Bohemia and in northern Moravia around Ostrava present health risks;
• acid rain damaging forests;
• efforts to bring industry up to EU code should improve domestic pollution

• landlocked;
• strategically located astride some of oldest and most significant land routes in Europe;
• Moravian Gate is a traditional military corridor between the North European Plain and the Danube in central Europe

0-14 years:

15% (male 789,987; female 748,476)

15-64 years:

70.9% (male 3,643,574; female 3,622,276)

65 years and over:

14.1% (male 557,496; female 884,369) (2004 est.)

at birth:

1.06 male(s)/female

under 15 years:

1.06 male(s)/female

15-64 years:

1.01 male(s)/female

65 years and over:

0.63 male(s)/female

total population:

0.95 male(s)/female (2004 est.)

noun:

Czech(s)

adjective:

Czech

definition:

NA

total population:

99.9% (1999 est.)

male:

NA

female:

NA

conventional long form:

Czech Republic

conventional short form:

Czech Republic

local long form:

Ceska Republika

local short form:

Ceska Republika

• 13 regions (kraje, singular - kraj) and 1 capital city* (hlavni mesto);
• Jihocesky Kraj, Jihomoravsky Kraj, Karlovarsky Kraj, Kralovehradecky Kraj, Liberecky Kraj, Moravskoslezsky Kraj, Olomoucky Kraj, Pardubicky Kraj, Plzensky Kraj, Praha*, Stredocesky Kraj, Ustecky Kraj, Vysocina, Zlinsky Kraj

• civil law system based on Austro-Hungarian codes;
• has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction;
• legal code modified to bring it in line with Organization on Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) obligations and to expunge Marxist-Leninist legal theory

chief of state:

President Vaclav KLAUS (since 7 March 2003)

note: the Czech Republic's first president Vaclav HAVEL stepped down from office on 2 February 2003 having served exactly 10 years; parliament finally elected a successor on 28 February 2003 after two inconclusive elections in January 2003

head of government:

Prime Minister Stanislav GROSS (since 26 July 2004), Deputy Prime Ministers Zdenek SKROMACH (since 4 August 2004), Martin JAHN (since 4 August 2004), Pavel NEMEC (since 4 August 2004); Milan SIMONOVSKY (since 4 August 2004)

cabinet:

Cabinet appointed by the president on the recommendation of the prime minister

elections:

• president elected by Parliament for a five-year term;
• last successful election held 28 February 2003 (after earlier elections held 15 and 24 January 2003 were inconclusive; next election to be held NA January 2008);
• prime minister appointed by the president

election results:

Vaclav KLAUS elected president on 28 February 2003; Vaclav KLAUS 142 votes, Jan SOKOL 124 votes (third round; combined votes of both chambers of parliament)

• Supreme Court;
• Constitutional Court;
• chairman and deputy chairmen are appointed by the president for a 10-year term

• Christian and Democratic Union-Czechoslovak People's Party or KDU-CSL [Miroslav KALOUSEK, chairman];
• Civic Democratic Alliance or ODA [Jirina NOVAKOVA, chairman];
• Civic Democratic Party or ODS [Mirek TOPOLANEK, chairman];
• Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia or KSCM [Miroslav GREBENICEK, chairman];
• Communist Party of Czechoslovakia or KSC [Miroslav STEPAN, chairman];
• Czech National Social Party of CSNS [Jaroslav ROVNY, chairman];
• Czech Social Democratic Party or CSSD [Stanislav GROSS, acting chairman];
• European Democrats [Jan KASL];
• Freedom Union-Democratic Union or US-DEU [Pavel NEMEC, chairman];
• Green Party;
• Open Democracy

chief of mission:

Ambassador Martin PALOUS

chancery:

3900 Spring of Freedom Street NW, Washington, DC 20008

telephone:

[1] (202) 274-9100

FAX:

[1] (202) 966-8540

consulate(s) general:

Los Angeles and New York

chief of mission:

Ambassador William J. CABANISS

embassy:

Trziste 15, 11801 Prague 1

mailing address:

use embassy street address

telephone:

[420] (2) 5753-0663

FAX:

[420] (2) 5753-0583

lowest 10%:

4.3%

highest 10%:

22.4% (1996)

general assessment:

• privatization and modernization of the Czech telecommunication system got a late start but is advancing steadily;
• growth in the use of mobile cellular telephones is particularly vigorous

domestic:

• 86% of exchanges now digital;
• existing copper subscriber systems now being enhanced with Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) equipment to accommodate Internet and other digital signals;
• trunk systems include fiber-optic cable and microwave radio relay

international:

country code - 420; satellite earth stations - 2 Intersputnik (Atlantic and Indian Ocean regions), 1 Intelsat, 1 Eutelsat, 1 Inmarsat, 1 Globalstar

total:

9,520 km

standard gauge:

9,421 km 1.435-m gauge (2,893 km electrified)

narrow gauge:

99 km 0.760-m gauge (2003)

total:

55,408 km

paved:

55,408 km (including 499 km of expressways)

unpaved:

0 km (2000)

• 18-50 years of age for compulsory and voluntary military service;
• service obligation - 12 months;
• conscription due to end by 2005 (January 2004)

• Liechtenstein's royal family claims restitution for 1,600 sq km of land in the Czech Republic confiscated in 1918;
• individual Sudeten Germans seek restitution for property confiscated in connection with their expulsion after World War II;
• Austria has minor dispute with Czech Republic over the Temelin Nuclear Power Plant

• transshipment point for Southwest Asian heroin and minor transit point for Latin American cocaine to Western Europe;
• producer of synthetic drugs for local and regional markets;
• susceptible to money laundering related to drug trafficking, organized crime