Economics
Czech President-Elect on Collision Course With Government
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Milos Zeman’s victory in the Czech Republic’s presidential election sets up a clash with the government over its economic program aimed at cutting the budget deficit in the midst of a recession.
Zeman, 68, defeated Karel Schwarzenberg, the millionaire prince and foreign minister, in the run-off vote on Jan. 25-26 as Czechs punished the government for its austerity measures. The former premier promotes progressive taxation and closer ties with the European Union, bringing a new foreign-policy outlook after a decade under the euroskeptic Vaclav Klaus.