Václav Klaus (born 19 June 1941) is a Czech economist and politician who served as the second president of the Czech Republic from 2003 to 2013. From July 1992 until the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in January 1993, he served as the second and last prime minister of the Czech Republic while it was a federal subject of the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic, and then as the first prime minister of the newly independent Czech Republic from 1993 to 1998. During the Communist era, Klaus worked as a bank clerk and forecaster. After the fall of Communism in November 1989, he became the Minister of Finance in the "government of national unity". In 1991, Klaus was the principal co-founder of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS). He was prime minister from 1992 to 1998, and from January to February 1993 he held certain powers of the Presidency.
