The European Union Membership of the Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, or formerly known as Czechoslovakia, has been known not only for its rich culture and history but also to its accession to the European Union in 2004. In the latest country profile written for the country by the United States Department of State (2011), the country can be as small as South Carolina, if not smaller, with 78,864 sq. The country has four cities with Prague comprising 1.2 million in population, Brno with 367,000, Ostrava with 310,000 and Plzen with 163,000. The country’s diverse culture can be related to the number of groups that the country plays host to Czechs with 94%, Slovak, Roma, Silesian, Polish, German, Ukrainian and Vietnamese. The country has 73 districts or okres while it has 4 municipalities or mesto with a parliamentary democracy heading the government.
In the fact book of the Central Intelligence Agency (2000), it noted that pre-accession Czech Republic was still a large and developing country after it’s annexation from the Soviet rule. Around July 2000, the country has 10,272, 179 million inhabitants: 16% or 866,754 males and 823, 795 females comprising ages 0-14 years old; 70% or 3,579,454 males and 3,577,919 females comprising ages 15-64 years old while 14% or 547,462 males and 876,795 females comprising the population with 65 years old and above. With regards to how the population grows and decrease, it is estimated that the growth rate is at -0.08%, the birth rate is 9.1 births per 1000 Czechs and the country’s death rate is at 10.87 deaths per 1000 Czechs. Country migrants make up at least 0.95% out of 1000 population; 81.2% Czechs, 13.2% Moravians, 3.1% Slovaks, 0.6% Polish, 0.5% German, 0.4% Silesian and 0.5% each for other ethnic groups. Infant mortality rate of the country is at 5.63 deaths per 1000 live births while life expectancy at birth is at average of 74.51 years old; males age up to 71 years old while females age up to 78 years old. Czechs on pre-accession have a high literacy rate with 99.9%. Religion wise, 39.8% are atheists, 39.2% are Catholic, and 4.6% are Protestant while 16.4% comprise other minor religions.
Czech Republic’s pre-accession economy has been affected by the political and financial crisis in 1997 that also ruined its position as one of the most successful post-Communist states. The country’s currency had to crash due to the delay in a creation of a capital market which was not remedied by the $3 billion recovery program of the central bank. Due to the crisis, the government spending of the country is reduced by 2.5% of the GDP and the country’s economic growth dropped to -0.5% in 1999. The GDP of the country especially its purchasing power parity has been estimated to be $120.8 billion however, GDP per capita’s purchasing power is estimated to be $11,700. Comprising the Czech Republic’s GDP is the agriculture, industry and services sector. The agriculture sector comprises 5%, 42% comprises the industry sector while 53% comprises the services sector. The inflation rate of the country is at 2.5% making many investors flock the country and invest. Due to the country’s high literacy rate, no one is below the poverty line despite the fact that 9% of the population is unemployed. Most of the labour force of the country is concentrated on the services and industry sector with 46.8% and 32% respectively. Trading wise, Czech Republic has invested in many sectors namely in electricity, agriculture, and commodities. In terms of electricity, the Czech Republic is capable of producing 75.54% of fossil fuels, 2.55% of hydroelectricity, 20.37% of nuclear power and 1.54% of other electricity sources. The country has been estimated to consume at least 54.733 billion kWh worth of power and has exported 10.8 billion kWh of power in nearby areas. The country’s exports as of 1999 were estimated to be $26.9 billion coming from its machinery, transport and manufactured goods exports which are 41% and 40% respectively; the remaining few percentage is allotted to chemicals taking 8% and raw materials and fuel making up 7%. Most European regions are on trading agreements with the Czech Republic with Germany receiving most of the country’s exports with 42% followed by Slovakia with 8%, Austria and Poland with 6% each while France takes 4%. The country imports are worth $29 billion with most of them coming from machinery, transport and other manufactured products. Germany remains to be a great partner for the country as it covers up 34% of the country’s total imports with Slovakia, Russia and Austria taking 6% each while France completes 5%. Since the country has faced two very tough crises, as of 1999, the country has a debt that totals up to $24.3 billion and is constantly being supported by an economic aid worth $351.6 million. The country’s currency, the koruna, has remained floated since the currency crisis with the exchange rate to $1 costing more than 35.630 koruna on December 1999.
According to the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry (2009), the Czech Republic has first applied for the European Union accession in 1996 and has been up to debate within the current members of the European Union given that Czech Republic has a background of political and economic crisis and its former Soviet background. Nevertheless, the country has been admitted to the European Union alongside Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia through the Treaty of Accession of 2003, signed in Athens, Greece and taken into effect on May 1, 2004, the same that that marked the beginning of the European Union Enlargement. Since their inclusion to the European Union, the country is slowly pushing its mechanisms in meeting the criteria needed to enable them to use the Euro in 2012 . In the most recent study of the Central Intelligence Agency and the US Department of State (2011), the country’s records are significantly different from its pre-accession period given that most of the numbers have significantly changed upon its entry to the European Union. Since July 2011, the country’s population totalled up to 10,190,213 people: 13.5% or 704,495 males and 666,191 females comprising ages 0-14 years old; 70.2% or 3,599,774 males and 3,554,158 females comprising ages 15-64 years old while 16.3% or 663,982 males and 1,001,613 females comprising the population with 65 years old and above. With regards to how the population grows and decrease, it is estimated that the growth rate is at -0.12% which is not a good sign compared to its pre-accession period, the birth rate has also decreased with 8.7 births per 1000 Czechs and the country’s death rate also decreased slightly with 10.86 deaths per 1000 Czechs. Country migrants make up at least 0.97% out of 1000 population; 90.4% Czechs, 3.7% Moravians, 1.9% Slovaks and 4% for other ethnic groups living in the country. Infant mortality rate of the country is at 5.63 deaths per 1000 live births while life expectancy at birth is at average of 77.19 years old; males age up to 73 years old while females age up to 80 years old. Czechs still has a high literacy rate which is then supported with the country’s school life expectancy to average up to 15 years old. Compared to the country’s pre-accession period, the religion in Czech Republic has changed with 59% of the population unaffiliated with any religion, followed by Catholics with 26.8%, Protestants with 2.1%, other religions with 3.3% and the remaining 8.8% are unspecified. The current data also included the country’s HIV/AIDS inflicted population and people who have been noted to have irregular weight. For the country’s population with HIV/AIDS, it is estimated that at least 2,000 people are inflicted by the dreaded virus while 100 deaths have been recorded because of the virus. At least 15.1% of the population are recorded to be obese, ranking 36 throughout the world. Meanwhile, underweight children under the age of 5 are noted to be 2.1%.
Prior to its entrance to the European Union, Czech Republic was able to utilize its counterstrategies to meet the EU requirements and recovered its severely damaged and floating economy. The GDP of the country especially its purchasing power parity has been estimated to be $261.3 billion however, GDP per capita’s purchasing power is estimated to be $25,600. The exchange rate of the country’s GDP has also been estimated with $192.2 billion in total. Comprising the Czech Republic’s GDP is the agriculture, industry and services sector which has also changed throughout the years. The agriculture sector comprises only 2.4%, 37.6% comprises the industry sector while 60% comprises the services sector. The inflation rate of the country is at 1.5%. Due to the country’s high literacy rate, no one is below the poverty line despite the fact that 9% of the population is unemployed which is same as the 2000 survey. Most of the labour force of the country is concentrated on the services and industry sector with 58.3% and 38.6% respectively. The remaining 3.1% is taken by the agriculture sector.
The country has maintained the same sectors they specialize in terms of trading. In terms of electricity, the Czech Republic produces at least 77.02 billion kWh from various sources. The country has been estimated to consume at least 53.42 billion kWh worth of power and has exported 13.64 billion kWh of power in nearby areas. The country’s exports as of 2010 were estimated to be $126.4 billion coming from its machinery, transport and manufactured goods exports. Trade agreements with the Czech Republic remained with Germany receiving most of the country’s exports with 31.7%. The country imports are worth $123.5 billion from the same sector. Germany remains to be a great partner for the country as it covers up 25.6% of the entire imports. With regards of debt, the country still has $86.34 billion external debt which has increased since 2009. While waiting for their Euro inclusion, the koruna is worth 19.111 per $1 as of 2010.
References
Central Intelligence Agency. (2011, October 21). Czech Republic. Retrieved from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ez.html
Central Intelligency Agency. (2000, January 1). CIA -- The World Factbook : Czech Republic. Retrieved from http://www.ww2hc.org/CIA/geos/ez.html
London Chamber of Commerce and Industry. (2009, July). The Czech Republic. Retrieved from http://www.londonchamber.co.uk/DocImages/5620.pdf
United States Department of State. (2011, August 19). Background Note: Czech Republic. Retrieved from http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3237.htm
