Editing Czech Republic (section)

=== Czech Republic ===
{{Main|Velvet Revolution|Dissolution of Czechoslovakia}}{{More sources|section|date=April 2025}}[[File:Václav Havel cut out.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Václav Havel]], one of the most important figures in Czech history during the 20th century—leader of the [[Velvet Revolution]], the last president of [[Czechoslovakia]] and the first president of the Czech Republic]]

In November 1989, Czechoslovakia again became a liberal democracy through the [[Velvet Revolution]]. However, Slovak national aspirations strengthened ([[Hyphen War]]) and on 31 December 1992, the [[Dissolution of Czechoslovakia|country peacefully split]] into the independent [[country|countries]] of the Czech Republic and [[Slovakia]]. Both countries went through economic reforms and [[privatization]]s, with the intention of creating a [[market economy]], as they have been trying to do since 1990, when Czechs and Slovaks still shared the common state. This process was largely successful; in 2006 the Czech Republic was recognized by the World Bank as a "developed country",<ref name="worldbank06">{{cite web|url=http://www.radio.cz/en/article/76314|title=World Bank Marks Czech Republic's Graduation to 'Developed' Status|last=Velinger|first=Jan|date=28 February 2006|publisher=Radio Prague|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080112081601/http://www.radio.cz/en/article/76314|archive-date=12 January 2008|url-status=live|access-date=22 January 2007}}</ref> and in 2009 the [[Human Development Index]] ranked it as a nation of "Very High Human Development".<ref name="hdi09">{{cite web |url=http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/HDR_2009_EN_Complete.pdf |title=Human Development Report 2009 |work=UNDP.org |date=January 2009 |access-date=25 April 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091122115116/http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/HDR_2009_EN_Complete.pdf |archive-date=22 November 2009 |url-status=live}}</ref>

From 1991, the Czech Republic, originally as part of Czechoslovakia and since 1993 in its own right, has been a member of the [[Visegrád Group]] and from 1995, the [[Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development|OECD]]. The Czech Republic joined [[NATO]] on 12 March 1999 and the [[European Union]] on 1 May 2004. On 21 December 2007 the Czech Republic joined the [[Schengen Area]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://factsmaps.com/eu-nato-schengen-eurozone-member-states-in-europe/|title=EU, NATO, Schengen and Eurozone member states in Europe|date=13 October 2018}}</ref>

Until 2017, either the centre-left [[Czech Social Democratic Party]] or the centre-right [[Civic Democratic Party (Czech Republic)|Civic Democratic Party]] led the governments of the Czech Republic. In October 2017, the populist movement [[ANO 2011]], led by the country's second-richest man, [[Andrej Babiš]], won the [[2017 Czech legislative election|elections]] with three times more votes than its closest rival, the Civic Democrats.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-41708844|title = Czech election: Billionaire Babis wins by large margin|work = BBC News|date = 21 October 2017}}</ref> In December 2017, Czech president [[Miloš Zeman]] appointed Andrej Babiš as the new prime minister.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dw.com/en/czech-billionaire-andrej-babis-named-new-prime-minister/a-41680019|title = Czech billionaire Andrej Babis named new prime minister|date= 6 December 2017|website = [[Deutsche Welle]]}}</ref>

In the [[2021 Czech legislative election|2021 elections]], [[ANO 2011]] was narrowly defeated and [[Petr Fiala]] became the new prime minister.<ref>{{cite news |title=Czech Republic: Petr Fiala named new prime minister |date=28 November 2021 |url=https://www.dw.com/en/czech-republic-petr-fiala-named-new-prime-minister/a-59960529 |work=DW.COM}}</ref> He formed a government coalition of the alliance [[Spolu (Czech Republic)|SPOLU]] ([[Civic Democratic Party (Czech Republic)|Civic Democratic Party]], [[KDU-ČSL]] and [[TOP 09]]) and the alliance of [[Pirates and Mayors]]. In January 2023, retired general [[Petr Pavel]] won the [[2023 Czech presidential election|presidential election]], becoming new Czech president to succeed Miloš Zeman.<ref>{{cite news |title=Retired general Petr Pavel wins election to become Czech president |url=https://www.euronews.com/2023/01/28/retired-general-petr-pavel-wins-election-to-become-czech-president |work=euronews |date=28 January 2023}}</ref> Following the [[2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine]], the country took in half a million [[2022–2023 Ukrainian refugee crisis|Ukrainian refugees]], the largest number per capita in the world.<ref>{{cite web |title=Regional Refugee Response Plan for the Ukraine Situation – Inter-Agency Operational Update: Czech Republic, July – October 2022 |url=https://reliefweb.int/report/czechia/regional-refugee-response-plan-ukraine-situation-inter-agency-operational-update-czech-republic-july-october-2022 |website=reliefweb |date=17 November 2022 |publisher=UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs |access-date=25 February 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Field |first1=Matt |title=Ukraine is fighting on behalf of all democracies |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/ukraine-is-fighting-on-behalf-of-all-democracies|website=GOV.UK |publisher=British Embassy Prague |access-date=25 February 2023}}</ref>