Liberland
Jedlička was inspired by classical liberal thinkers such as Ludwig von Mises and Ayn Rand, and he envisioned a political system characterised by laissez-faire capitalism, minimal government, and an economy based on cryptocurrency.
[12] The dispute regarding the border along the Danube River valley first arose in 1947 but was left unresolved during the existence of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
Serbia holds the opinion that the thalweg of the Danube valley and the centre line of the river represents the international border between the two countries.
Croatia disagrees and claims that the international border lies along the boundaries of the cadastral municipalities located along the river – departing from the course at several points – reflecting the course of the Danube which existed in the 19th century before meandering and hydraulic engineering works altered its course.
A journalist from the Czech newspaper Parlamentní listy [cs], who visited the area in April 2015, found a house that had been abandoned for about thirty years, according to people living in the vicinity.
He had reportedly consulted Wikipedia's page regarding unclaimed territories, shown to him by his libertarian friend, in selecting a spot to proclaim the micronation.
[14] On 18 December 2015, Jedlička held an event at which he presented the first provisional government of Liberland and its ministers of finance, foreign affairs, interior and justice as well as two vice presidents.
[18][19] In May 2015, Vít Jedlička and his translator Sven Sambunjak were briefly detained by Croatian police after making an attempt to cross the border.
Jedlička spent one night in detention and then was convicted and ordered to pay a fine for illegal crossing of the Croatian border[20] but appealed the verdict.
[25] Initially, reporters were able to enter the area with Jedlička[13] but subsequently they were also denied entry, including journalists from the Serbian public broadcast service Radio Television of Vojvodina,[26] and from the Bosnian newspaper Dnevni avaz.
[33][needs update] In April 2023, YouTuber Niko Omilana—together with a collaborator—went past the Croatian border police using jet skis, entering the disputed territory to plant a flag.
The footage was uploaded on YouTube in July of the same year, and received millions of views the following days, as well as coverage in Croatian and Serbian media.
Christopher Carr, a lecturer in cryptography and blockchain at Exeter University, stated that Liberland risked the same challenges El Salvador faced since it adopted bitcoin as a currency in 2021.
[51][52] The Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also disassociated itself from the activities of Jedlička, finding them inappropriate, illegal, and potentially harmful, and has asked him to respect local law.
[9] Jedlička has visited another unrecognized republic, Somaliland, a self-declared state that proclaimed its independence from Somalia in 1991, and discussed mutual recognition with them.
Green areas to the west of the river are claimed by neither (Croatia asserts that the green parts are part of Serbia, but Serbia does not claim them).
This led Jedlička to assert that the green parts have remained unclaimed by both sides; the territory claimed by Liberland is the largest green-coloured land parcel, marked as "Siga" on the map.
