Can Switzerland Remain Switzerland in a Registered Partnership with the EU?

English Pages, 28. 4. 2014

Thank you for inviting me to come here, thank you for giving me the opportunity to address this audience which was put together by the Zürich Business Club. I highly appreciate it.

My long-lasting interest in Switzerland has been recently raised by the referendum you organized about immigration at the beginning of this year, and, perhaps even more, by the EU reaction to it. On the one hand, I have to admit that this reaction was expected by many of us.

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Let's start a real Ukrainian debate

English Pages, 22. 4. 2014

Introduction: The difficult heritage of the past

The state of Ukraine today is a sad outcome of Stalin's attempts to mix up nations and boundaries, disrupt natural historical ties and create a new Soviet man by turning original nations into mere ethnic residua and historical leftovers. Taking it into consideration is the starting point of our thinking, something that is sadly missing in the political debates today.

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The Václav Klaus Institute Public Statement on the Situation in the Ukraine no. 2: Let’s Not Trivialize the Situation by One-Sided Interpretations

English Pages, 5. 3. 2014

1. In our public statement from February 21, we noted that “allowing a clash about the future of Ukraine and leading a fight about its orientation towards West or East ignores reality. It leads the country into an insolvable conflict that cannot have but a tragic ending… Giving Ukraine a choice between East or West means breaking it. This is, unfortunately, what seems to be happening.” We had no idea that our instincts and worries would come true so quickly, in just ten days.

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The Carefully Organized Separation of Czechoslovakia as an Example How to Peacefully Solve a Nation State Problem

English Pages, 27. 2. 2014

Ladies and Gentleman,

Many thanks for giving me a chance to address this distinguished audience on such an interesting topic. I want to declare at the very beginning that I don´t pretend to be an expert on federalism or regionalism and that I don´t have any strong views about the rationality and legitimacy of creating or breaking up the existing states, about the secession of regions, provinces or nations, about the separation of countries or other similar topics.

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The Václav Klaus Institute's public statement on the situation in the Ukraine

English Pages, 25. 2. 2014

1. The Ukraine is in its present form into a great extent an artificial entity that did not turn into an independent state until the break-up of the Soviet Union two decades ago.

2. On one hand, it includes territories in the west that had never belonged to the Russian empire (Transcarpathian region, Galicia and others) and became part of Russia only after WW2, and on the other hand territories that were from the 18^th century purely Russian (Crimea, Odessa, the Eastern part of the country), for which the independence of the Ukraine meant the extraction from their original nation.

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Swiss Referendum About Immigration: As Seen from Prague

English Pages, 21. 2. 2014

The Czech people fully respect the use of one of the most important aspects of the Swiss constitutional system, of people´s referendum and don´t feel they have any right to comment on its results – regardless the topic. It would be unproductive to a priori restrict the range of questions which could be raised in a referendum. We should not accept the ruinous effects of the currently so fashionable wave of political correctness.

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Europe at the Crossroad: Speech in Copenhagen

English Pages, 19. 2. 2014

Many thanks for bringing me back to Copenhagen and for offering me the very pleasant opportunity to address this – hopefully friendly – audience. Friendly, because – due to my notoriety among euro-enthusiasts and euro-naivists – I suppose that no one who comes here is unaware of what he or she may expect to hear.

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The International Leontief Medal for Contribution to Economic Reforms: Fundamental Systemic Change Is not an Exercise in Applied Economics

English Pages, 15. 2. 2014

Mrs. Director-General, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Thank you for bringing me back to St. Petersburg. Last time I was here as President of the Czech Republic attending the 300^th anniversary of the founding of your great city. Thank you for awarding me with the International Leontief Medal which was given to several important Russian and international scholars, some of them my good friends, in the last couple of years.

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Remarks for the Wiener Com.Sult Congress: Europe Has to Change

English Pages, 21. 1. 2014

Many thanks for bringing me back to Vienna and for giving me the pleasant opportunity to address this distinguished audience. In my previous talks at this congress I repeatedly criticized European politicians that they do not take the evident European problems seriously. Every January I return to Vienna to state sadly that nothing significant has changed in this respect. We continue marching in the same blind alley regardless the deteriorating economic data, the deepening of the democratic deficit, and the indisputable increase of frustration in society.

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Notes for the Gaidar Forum: Is the Title “Sustainable Development in Periods of Instability” a Correct One?

English Pages, 15. 1. 2014

Thanks for the invitation to Russia, to Moscow, and especially to this important gathering connected with the name of Jegor Gajdar, a good friend of mine, a very profound economist and significant Russian political leader. Let me use the title of this plenary session for making a few comments.

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