A prominent economist and outspoken leader of the "new Europe," President Václav Klaus has been in the top ranks of the Czech leadership since the Velvet Revolution.

He will present the Rosenberg Institute Distinguished Lecture on the topic: "Why Europe Must Reject Centralization." The event will include questions from a special panel of faculty and students.

Time and Venue

September 23
10:30 am - 12:00 pm
Shapiro Campus Center Theater
Brandeis University

About Václav Klaus
Václav Klaus was born in Prague in July of 1941. He studied at the Prague School of Economics and also in Italy (1966) and the USA (1969). As a research worker at the Institute of Economics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, he completed a PhD in Economics in 1968.

In 1970, he was forced to abandon his research career for political reasons and left to work for at the Czechoslovak State Bank. He returned to an academic post at the Forecasting Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences in late 1987.

He entered politics immediately after 17th November 1989, but maintained his contacts with the world of economics, continuing to lecture and publish occasionally. In 1991, he was appointed Assistant Professor of Economics at Charles University. In 1995, he was appointed Professor of Finance at the Prague School of Economics.

Václav Klaus started his political career in December 1989, when he became Federal Minister of Finance. In October 1991, he was also appointed Deputy Prime Minister of the Czecho-Slovak Federation. In late 1990, he became Chairman of the Civic Forum. After its demise in April 1991, he co-founded the Civic Democratic Party, and was its Chairman from the outset until December 2002. He won the parliamentary elections with this party in 1992 and became the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic.

It was in this position that he took part in the peaceful division of Czechoslovakia and the foundation of an independent Czech Republic. In 1996, he successfully defended his position as Prime Minister in the elections to the Chamber of Deputies, but he resigned after the break-up of the government coalition in November 1997. After the early elections of 1998, he became the Chairman of the Chamber of Deputies for a four-year term of office.

On February 28, 2003, Václav Klaus was elected President of the Czech Republic.

He has published over 20 books on general social, political and economics subjects and he holds a number of international awards and honorary doctorates from universities all over the world.

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