Vit Jedlicka claims to have founded a new country
The project has already received roughly 20,000 applications for citizenship
Vit Jedlicka, a member of the conservative Party of Free Citizens in the Czech Republic, is the self-appointed president of Liberland, which he says sits on unclaimed terra nullius territory wedged between Serbia and Croatia. The 3 sq. mi. “country”, where taxes are optional and a military is non-existent, does not “interfere with the territory” of the two states, according to Liberland’s website.
“The objective of the founders of the new state is to build a country where honest people can prosper without being oppressed by governments making their lives unpleasant through the burden of unnecessary restrictions and taxes,” reads a statement announcing the creation of the new country last week. The country’s motto is: “To live and let live.”
Jedlicka, speaking by phone from Prague, told TIME that the effort began as a political stunt to garner media attention. “It started a little bit like a protest,” Jedlicka (31), said. “But now it’s turning out to be a real project with real support.”
The project has already received roughly 20,000 applications for citizenship, according to Jedlicka, who estimated that the country will receive as many as 1,00,000 applications by the end of next week (Liberland’s website has details of how to apply for citizenship, including sending an email of introduction, a C.V. is optional). Jedlicka added that some people already have plans to relocate.
“We have the busiest immigration office in the world,” he joked of his seven-person volunteer staff that he expects will grow.