Tributes and condolences have followed the death of the Czech Republic’s former president Václav Havel on December 18 2011 at the age of 75.
 
In a message to Czech president Václav Klaus, Bulgarian President Georgi Purvanov said that Havel would remain forever in the memory of the Czech people and the democratic community as an intellectual, politician and statesman who dedicated his adult life to the fight for democracy. 
 
Purvanov said that Havel had, with his pen and his post as president, invariably upheld the fundamental rights and freedoms of citizens and worked for justice and the welfare of the Czech naton.
 
Popular and well-loved at home and abroad, Havel had to his last day worked incessantly, moved by the turbulent political developments of our time, and had closely monitored and publicly warned about the growing gap between rich and poor parts of the world and the potential for conflict between racial and cultural groups that lay in growing nationalism and xenophobia, Purvanov said.
 
European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said that Havel was a man of immense courage, who fought for freedom and democracy in the most difficult circumstances.
 
"Václav Havel was one of the great Europeans of his generation, who went on to become an inspirational leader of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic," Ashton said.
 
"His name will forever be synonymous with the successful struggle for freedom in Central and Eastern Europe and the reunification of Europe," she said.
 
Havel's commitment to freedom was unwavering, despite great personal cost, Ashton said.
 
His involvement with the Charter 77 movement was an inspiration to all those fighting for democracy around the world, she said.
 
"Yet despite all his achievements, Václav Havel remained a true man of the people, a modest man whose unique sense of humour always shone through.
 
"His legacy will live on through his writing, but most of all through his extraordinary life story, which will inspire us all long into the future," Ashton said.
 
European Commission President Jose Barroso said that Havel was a true European and had been a champion of democracy and liberty throughout his life.
 
"Václav Havel's name will remain forever attached to the reunification of Europe and the expansion of its values to Central and Eastern Europe. He was also a source of great inspiration to all those who fight for freedom and democracy around the world," Barroso said.
 
"The man has died but the legacy of his poems, plays and above all his ideas and personal example will remain alive for many generations to come. As he said himself in 1975 in an open letter to Gustáv Husák then President of the Communist regime: ‘Life cannot be destroyed for good, neither can history be brought entirely to a halt’," Barroso said.
 
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that Havel was the moral voice of his country and his era.
 
"He lived in truth - his credo - as few of his place and times dared to do," Ban said.

Havel’s humanity, humility and decency "were an example for us all".
 
"In the face of great challenges today that shall test a newer generation, let his profile in courage be our inspiration," Ban said.
 
UK foreign secretary William Hague said that Havel had played a pivotal role in the development of freedom in Europe.
 
"He will be remembered as a leader who helped create a modern democracy in the Czech Republic. His achievements are historic and will live after him," Hague said.
 
US secretary of state Hillary Clinton said that Havel’s death was a loss for the Czech Republic and for human rights defenders around the world.
 
"He was an inspiration to me and I was proud to call him a friend," Clinton said.
 
"He once said that his hope was for history to remember him as having done something useful. President Havel spent his life removing chains of oppression, standing up for the downtrodden, and advancing the tenets of democracy and freedom.
 
"When communism threatened the peace and prosperity of our world and covered Eastern Europe in a cloud of hopelessness, he wrote plays so powerful they changed the course of history and created new democratic opportunities for millions," Clinton said.
 
And when the people of the Czech Republic were finally allowed to express themselves freely, they overwhelmingly chose a man who never wanted to be in politics, she said.
 
"He did something more than useful – he did something extraordinary, and history will remember it," Clinton said.