Yegor Gaidar and the Economics of Transformation

English Pages, 4. 7. 2014

It was a great pleasure and honour for me when your rector, prof. Djankov, asked me to address this academic audience on the occasion of the New Economic School´s commencement ceremony. In the first two decades of its existence, your school has gained a very good reputation both at home and abroad and I am really glad to be here. And I am particularly glad to be here now when Russia is so disputed and – in my understanding – not fully correctly interpreted in the rest of the world.

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Jiří Weigl: On the Near East powder keg

English Pages, 27. 6. 2014

The current increase of international tension is also reflected in the dramatically changing situation of the Arab countries, the fusion and interconnection of individual crises in the Near and Middle East.

The unexpected offensive of the Sunni militias of the radical movement of ISIL (the Islamic state in Iraq and the Levant) that already controls an important part of northern and central Iraq including the second largest city of Mosul has drawn the world's attention.

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Is There Any Reason to Celebrate Our First Ten Years in the EU?

English Pages, 20. 6. 2014

Many thanks for the invitation. I am really glad to be here again and to meet many old friends. The twelve months between last June and this one supplied us with many significant events. Some of them were unexpected but some of them were known in advance. We – in the Czech Republic and other Central and East European countries – did expect the coming of the 10^th anniversary of our EU membership. This moment gave us an opportunity to analyse and discuss this experience.

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Why does Illarionov repeat anti-Klaus lies?

English Pages, 13. 6. 2014

On May 30, 2014, the Czech internet server Echo24 published a story with a title: Why does Klaus repeat Kremlin's lies? Putin's critic wonders. It is an interview with Andrei Illarionov, Russian economist and former close collaborator of Russian president Vladimir Putin, who shortly after falling out of favor with the regime at home, moved to the USA and now shocks the world with anti-Russian propaganda and bizarre media declarations about how Russia now "focuses" on the Baltics and Finland as the next victim after Ukraine.

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Remarks at the Commemoration of the 20th Anniversary of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation

English Pages, 12. 6. 2014

I am extremely honored to be at this place at this very moment. The statue of the Goddess of Democracy, standing here only seven years, has already become an integral part of the city. 

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Václav Klaus sent a letter of congratulations to Nigel Farage

English Pages, 28. 5. 2014

Dear Nigel,

I wish to congratulate you most sincerely on your and UKIP's success in the elections to the European Parliament. This is a great news for all of us who wish to see more intergovernmental cooperation in Europe, less centralisation and less bureaucracy and masterminding from above.

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Letter to President of the University of Chicago Robert J. Zimmer

English Pages, 9. 5. 2014

Dear President Zimmer,

Let me express my deep sorrow for the death of my personal friend, great economist and great fighter for free society and free markets Gary Becker. It is a great loss for all of us, for the University, for the economic profession all over the world.

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Letter to Guity Nashat Becker

English Pages, 9. 5. 2014

Dear Guity,

I was extremely touched getting the information about the death of Gary. I know it is a great loss for you, I know how close you were. I will never forget seeing it while staying in your house. It is a great loss for the economic profession, for the University of Chicago, for his friends all over the world, including Prague and the whole Czech Republic.

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Notes for the introductory comments at the Budapest conference: Transition in Perspective

English Pages, 7. 5. 2014

Many thanks for organizing this gathering. We – who came to Budapest and prepared our contributions to this important and much needed project – are personally motivated in preserving a correct understanding of the unique and unrepeatable era after the fall of communism. We are already one generation away from it. To our great regret, the permanently ongoing political disputes in our countries are very often based on a caricature of this historic era.

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Is There Any Reason to Celebrate Our First 10 Years in the EU?

English Pages, 6. 5. 2014

Many thanks for the invitation. I almost don’t remember when I spoke here, in Budapest, last time in a private capacity, not being on a formal state visit.

It may be partly a personal problem because I entered politics in the moment of the Czechoslovak-Hungarian dispute about Gabčíkovo-Nagyamaros Danube dam project and I dared interpreting it as one of the conflicts between green ideology and rational thinking which was not very popular in Hungary at that time.

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