Václav Klaus: Political reflections in the middle of a hot summer

English Pages, 23. 7. 2024

I originally thought that high temperatures and summer atmosphere would be the key event of the summer. So I thought I would write this week’s column about, for example, the devastating fire that broke out in Rome exactly 1960 years ago, which led to tragic Emperor Nero’s settling his disputes with the Christians. Or that I will write about the fact that Angela Merkel, who - although for many years the superstar in politics of Europe or the world - has effectively disappeared from the world, turns 70 this week. The undignified way in which her CDU, and indeed the whole of Germany, got rid of her is glaring. I fundamentally disagreed with her on many things, but she was a product and an embodiment of Germany, not a politician who led Germany astray with her original leadership.

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Václav Klaus’s Comments at the Turkish Remembrance Ceremony

English Pages, 15. 7. 2024

Many thanks for the invitation. Many thanks for giving me the chance to speak here, even though the topic you have chosen for today’s discussion is a real challenge for me. It is a challenge because we – in contemporary Europe – live in an era of limited freedom to express non-mainstream, non-politically correct views.

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Václav Klaus on the assassination attempt on Donald Trump

English Pages, 14. 7. 2024

The fortunately failed assassination of President Trump was a desperate attempt to throw not only America but the entire world into chaos. It was an attempt to prolong the war in Ukraine, to increase the arms race and to bring us closer to a global conflict. It was not a bolt from the blue. It was the result of the intensification of hateful ideological propaganda by those who do not want freedom and democracy.

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Václav Klaus: Welcome Address at the American-European Congress of Ophthalmic Surgery in Prague

English Pages, 7. 6. 2024

Dear participants, distinguished eye surgeons, ladies and gentlemen, let me welcome you in Prague. It is my pleasure and honour to be asked to address your congress.

I can assure you that we are all glad that Prague has been chosen as the host city for your important gathering. I have no doubts this meeting will be successful, productive and enjoyable.

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Václav Klaus for Italian journal Nazione Futura with Jacopo Ugolini: “Before European elections”

English Pages, 21. 5. 2024

1) Europe has been experiencing totally uncontrolled illegal immigration for more than a decade. The response of the European institutions has been the redistribution of migrants between countries. We know, however, that this is only a partial and damaging response for several European states. In your opinion, what should be the European Union's response to this problem? Can the Italian Mattei Plan, i.e. an investment plan in Africa, be the solution?

One should differentiate. We shouldn’t be afraid of individual migration, but of mass migration. Not to differentiate these two fundamentally different phenomena is a conceptual mistake. Individual migration is spontaneous and voluntary. Mass migration is organized both on its “supply” and “demand” sides.

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Notes for Budapest: The Anglosphere and Europe (or perhaps "Anglospherism and Europeism"?)

English Pages, 5. 4. 2024

Many thanks for giving me a chance to participate in this very unique gathering, unique as always when it is organized by the Danube Institute, by John and Melissa. When I received the invitation at a conference with the title “The Anglosphere and Europe”, I was not sure I was the right person to be asked to say something relevant on such a topic.

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Václav Klaus: In the Middle of The Age of Wars and Conflicts

English Pages, 23. 2. 2024

Prof. Suver, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, 

Many thanks for bringing me back to Istanbul and many thanks for including me in this final session of the forum where I have a pleasure of being together with some of my former colleagues. 

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Notes for Munich: Ukraine and Gaza (or perhaps Russia and Israel?). Where to Start?

English Pages, 14. 2. 2024

Good friend of us all asked me to say a few words here this evening about both the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the Israel-Gaza tragedy, with a supplementary question whether these two wars could be over in the next six months. I didn’t dare protest. Let me, therefore, make a few unambitious remarks. Really only remarks.

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Václav Klaus: Introductory Notes for the Vienna Congress Session "Economy"

English Pages, 29. 1. 2024

Many thanks for giving me the opportunity to make introductory remarks to the session which is devoted to the economic side of the rather gloomy world of today. It is definitely not an innovative idea to start with saying that the world economy, and especially the European economy, are not in a good shape these days. This is well-known.

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Václav Klaus: Welcoming and Opening Remarks at Vienna Congress 2024

English Pages, 28. 1. 2024

Ladies and Gentlemen, Distinguished Guests, dear Friends,

It is an honour to be with all of you here today and an even greater honour to have the privilege to greet you at the very beginning of our this year’s Congress. I suppose I am not the only one here who takes coming to Vienna and to Hotel Imperial in the last weekend of January as a constant of my life, as a fixed point in my life program. In the turbulent world of today, we are losing one constant after another, but this one stays – much to my delight – unchanged.

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