Stanislav Gross

Stanislav Gross (2004)

Stanislav Gross (born October 30, 1969 in Prague ; † April 16, 2015 there ) was a Czech politician for the social democratic party ČSSD and a lawyer. From 2004 to 2005 he was chairman of his party and Prime Minister of the Czech Republic.

Life

After graduating from the secondary transport school in Prague, Stanislav Gross worked from 1984 to 1988 as an electrical mechanic and trainee engine driver for the Czechoslovak Railways . From 1988 to 1990 he did military service, then he devoted himself to politics. In addition to his work as a member of parliament, he studied law at the Charles University in Prague from 1993 to 1999 . Gross married Šárka Perlíková in 1996; the couple had two daughters. In 2004 Gross received the degree of JUDr. (so-called “minor doctoral degree”) at the Law Faculty of the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen .

Gross has been accused by critics of having obtained his degrees illegally. His thesis on the development of the Czech banking sector during the transformation was only about 33 pages long. He also allegedly passed a demanding German test as part of his studies, although it was known that he did not speak German.

In the course of an affair surrounding the illegal award of academic degrees at the Faculty of Law of the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen , it emerged in 2009 that Gross' rigorous work on the subject of “Development of Financial Management since 1918” was one of those works that were in the archives of University could not be found. The rector of the university, Josef Průša, claimed that the work was in a vault of the dean's office, but the former minister of justice, Jiří Pospíšil , who was appointed interim dean, testified that he had not found it there. The only person who claimed to have seen and read the work was Milan Kindl , the protagonist of the affair, who had to resign from his position as dean of the law faculty and from other offices. The affair had no consequences for Stanislav Gross until his death.

After resigning from political office in 2005, Gross worked for a Prague law firm. He caused a stir by speculating on stocks, which within a short time earned him a large fortune.

Stanislav Gross succumbed to his ALS disease in mid-April 2015 .

politics

During the Velvet Revolution in 1989 he joined the re-established Czech Social Democratic Party and quickly made a career there. In 1990 he was elected chairman of the Young Social Democrats. He held this office until 1994. In the June 1992 election, Gross - at the age of 22 - won a seat on the Czech National Council .

After the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1993, he was a member of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic , from January 1995 he was parliamentary group leader of the ČSSD, which was in opposition to the conservative government Václav Klaus . After the victory of the ČSSD in the early elections in 1998 , Gross became Vice President of the Chamber of Deputies. From April 4, 2000 he was Minister of the Interior in the government of Miloš Zeman . He also retained this office in the government of Vladimír Špidla from July 2002, and was also the first deputy to the Prime Minister.

After Špidla's resignation as head of government and party, Gross took over provisional management of the ČSSD. President Václav Klaus appointed him Prime Minister of the Czech Republic on July 2, 2004 . The government presented by Gross - a coalition of Social Democrats, the Christian Democratic KDU-ČSL and the liberal US-DEU - received Parliament's confidence on August 24, 2004 . At the age of 35, he was the youngest head of government in Europe and the youngest prime minister in the history of the Czech Republic.

Gross, who for a long time was one of the top places in the popularity list of Czech politicians, was considered a skilled negotiator and master of compromises. Nevertheless, he could not stop the fall in popularity of his party, which suffered heavy losses in the by-elections to the Senate and the elections to the regional parliaments on November 5 and 6, 2004.

In February 2005, several newspapers made serious allegations against Gross over a dubious loan for the purchase of a luxury apartment in Prague and his wife's entrepreneurial activities. He was unable to explain where he got the equivalent of 30,000 euros for the apartment. The Christian Democrats ( KDU-ČSL ), the second largest party in the governing coalition, then demanded Gross' resignation. He again threatened to dismiss the Christian Democratic ministers from the government. Finally, it was agreed to wait for the Social Democrats' convention over Easter. On March 26, 2005, Gross was elected party chairman with 53% of the votes; his opponent, Labor Minister Zdeněk Škromach , received 37% of the votes.

On March 30, 2005, the Christian Democrats finally announced their exit from the coalition and also announced that they would vote against Gross in a vote of no confidence planned for April 1, 2005 . The 41 MPs of the Communist Party KSČM abstained from voting, which meant that the required number of votes to vote Gross out was not achieved. Gross initially announced that he would work with a minority government until the planned end of the legislative period in June 2006 . On April 25, 2005, however, he announced his resignation from the office of Prime Minister. His successor was the previous Minister for Regional Development Jiří Paroubek . Gross also had to hand over the office of party chairman to Paroubek.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Andrea Dudik: Stanislav Gross, former Czech prime minister, this AT 45 . Bloomberg Business , April 16, 2015.
2. ^ Entry of Gross' thesis in the central catalog of the Charles University in Prague (Centrální katalog Univerzity Karlovy v Praze).
3. ↑ Podivná studia Stanislava Grosse . Mladá fronta Dnes , March 19, 2008, page A3.
4. ↑ Zuzana Kaiserová, Tomáš Syrovátka: Grossova práce podle Pospíšila na plzeňských právech není . iDnes.cz , October 15, 2005.

Web links

Commons : Stanislav Gross  - collection of images, videos and audio files