Vaclav Klaus
Vaclav Klaus
Václav Klausis a Czech economist and politician who served as the second President of the Czech Republic from 2003 to 2013. He also served as the second and last Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, federal subject of the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic, from July 1992 until the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in January 1993, and as the first Prime Minister of an independent Czech Republic from 1993 to 1998...
NationalityCzechoslovakian
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth19 June 1941
although broad colleagues consensus faster issues move needs share
I share with my colleagues a broad consensus on what needs to be done, although there are issues where I want to move faster than they.
against farce leftists playing political
a political farce which the leftists are playing against the right.
attacking control economic giving government lectures regime
I had been in Austria that day, giving lectures attacking government economic policy. You see, the regime already could not control its critics.
benefits connected costs eu gives
In my opinion, this gives Icelanders all the benefits ensuing from it, but they have no costs connected with EU membership,
believes hospitals means work
By no means can the hospitals work the way they used to work. If someone believes that they can, I think he or she is very wrong,
almost czech economic entry eu european historical necessary process side sufficient
For the Czech Republic, EU entry was necessary for historical and geographical reasons. But I would almost say that to be a part of the economic side of European integration process is sufficient for Iceland,
cannot consensus czech delicate history
it is such a delicate part of Czech history that it cannot be done without consensus on it in the Czech Republic.
men new-horizons weapons
Nevertheless, there is another threat on the horizon. I see this threat in environmentalism which is becoming a new dominant ideology, if not a religion. Its main weapon is raising the alarm and predicting the human life endangering climate change based on man-made global warming.
past europe czech-republic
Czech Republic is an important part of central Europe. It's clear that we must participate in European integration. I am convinced that the Czech Republic - or, in the past, Czechoslovakia - would have been one of the founding members of the EU if it hadn't been for the communist takeover in 1948.
climate temperature global-warming
The climate change debate is basically not about science; it is about ideology. It is not about global temperature; it is about the concept of human society. It is not about nature or scientific ecology; it is about environmentalism, about one - recently born - dirigistic and collectivistic ideology, which goes against freedom and free markets.
party people goal
People like me who were engaging in brinkmanship with the party economic bosses and the open dissidents who were being arrested were pursuing a common goal in different ways.
way economic regimes
I was paid to read Western economic texts. In a way, the regime paid for their own undermining.
country powerful past
Human relations tend to be more difficult when you're dealing with someone who weighs 30 kilograms more than you do. That's when you worry about whether a well-meaning gesture could produce complications. We have no problems with countries like Madagascar or Bolivia, for example. But Germany is our neighbor and we have a shared past. Besides, Germany is powerful and ambitious and more than four times as large as we are. It makes complete sense that we would act cautiously. It's simply Realpolitik.
new-york spring august
Then in 1969, I spent the spring term at Cornell University in New York. The invasion of August 1968 had already happened, but the hardline regime took several months to crack down on dissidents.