2008-03-07 18:50:43 -

PRAGUE, Czech Republic (AP) - Czech President Vaclav Klaus was inaugurated Friday for his second and final five-year term.
Klaus took the oath of office at Prague Castle's Vladislav Hall. The castle is the traditional seat of the Czech presidency.
The 66-year-old was re-elected by the Czech legislature on Feb. 15, defeating his challenger, U.S.-based economist

Jan Svejnar.
Klaus, a dominant figure on the Czech political scene for almost two decades, served as Czechoslovakia's finance minister after the fall of the communist regime in 1989.
He became the Czech prime minister in 1993, when Czechoslovakia split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
In February 2003, he was elected to succeed President Vaclav Havel, the dissident playwright who led the 1989 revolution that toppled communism. The presidency is a largely ceremonial post.
Under the Czech constitution, the president has the power to pick the prime minister and appoint Constitutional Court judges and members of the Czech National Bank board, but otherwise has little executive power.

The Czech Republic will take over the rotating presidency of the 27-nation European Union in the first half of 2009. Klaus has criticized the EU as too centralized and warned that excess regulation by Brussels may suppress competition and cultural diversity.
Klaus is considered a center-right conservative, and is known for his opposition to drug legalization, euthanasia and gay marriage.