Václav Klaus: Brave New West: Is It Avoidable?

English Pages, 26. 1. 2023

This small book is a collection of articles and speeches written, published or delivered in the last year and a half, at a time when the Covid restrictions started to be less destructive and oppressive and an almost normal life became possible. They were presented in eight European countries (if we include Turkey and Azerbaijan into Europe) and published and republished in several others.

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Speech at the Summit on Geopolitics, Security and Defense in Budapest: Can the World Economy Be Made Stable and Growing (Given Dominant Ideologies and Interests)?

English Pages, 1. 12. 2022

Many thanks for inviting me to attend this conference, for offering me the privilege to speak here, for giving me a chance to meet old friends and, last but not least, to be in Budapest again. In a city and country that plays a courageous and much needed role in the brave new world of contemporary Europe. I am frustrated that my country – with its current political representation – is not able to do the same.

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Speech at the Crans Montana Forum in Geneva: Let’s Return the West to Its Original Meaning

English Pages, 17. 11. 2022

Our today’s meeting is being held on the 17th of November, an important day for us in the Czech Republic. This day, exactly thirty three years ago, an originally minor student demonstration took place in the centre of Prague. The participants, including my son, were brutally attacked by the communist police. Its aggressive behaviour started the processes that some of you may know as the so called “Velvet Revolution”.

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Notes for Egyptian Ambassador's Farewell Reception

English Pages, 14. 11. 2022

Your Excellency, dear Mr. Ambassador,

I take it as an honour to be asked to say a few words on the occasion of the farewell reception in honour of Ambassador Hindam leaving our country. This occasion is an opportunity to express our gratitude for the ambassador’s activities here, to say good bye and to wish him many successful and positive years in the future.

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Václav Klaus for this Swiss magazine pro aurum: Keynes is the winner of the day, not Milton Friedman

English Pages, 10. 11. 2022

An actual war is raging in Ukraine, with countless direct and indirect victims, an economic crisis like no other in recent memory is ravaging working households and that “invisible thief”, namely inflation, is wiping out whatever was left of the middle class, forcing once-benefactors of food banks to become their beneficiaries. All the while, it seems that nobody is placing the blame where it belongs.

It is musings and questions like these that we recently discussed with Former President of the Czech Republic, Prof. Ing. Václav Klaus. In the interview that follows, he offers a lot of food of thought, drawing from his own extensive experience in politics during the most challenging times in modern memory and his deep understanding of geopolitics, economics and human nature itself. 

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Václav Klaus in Europa Stands debate organized by Israeli television TV7 in Helsinki

English Pages, 7. 11. 2022

The Former President of the Czech Republic Václav Klaus attended the Europa Stands debate organized by the Israeli television station TV7 in Helsinki.

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Macedonia, the EU and the Tenets of the Contemporary World

English Pages, 29. 9. 2022

Many thanks for the invitation. This is my second trip to this beautiful town and its famous lake and my second participation in the School for Young Leaders organized by my long-time friend and colleague President Gjorge Ivanov.

I find the idea of organizing schools of this kind very positive and productive. Fifty-seven years ago, in 1965, I had a chance to attend a similar gathering in France, Annecy, in a place with an Alpine lake almost as beautiful as the one in Ohrid. I must confess that I intentionally used the adverb almost.

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Theses for addressing Identity and Democracy Group of the European Parliament in Prague

English Pages, 26. 9. 2022

Many thanks for giving me a chance to address your today’s meeting. Many thanks for choosing Prague as the place for it.

I remember – with pleasure – receiving the European Freedom Award from your group at your meeting in Stockholm in November 2016. It was in the days when Swedish Democrats were still part of your group. When they left it, they succeeded in winning the Swedish parliamentary elections. Isn’t it a signal for some of you?

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Notes for Karpacz: Is Central Europe (or Perhaps Central-Europeism) a Meaningful Concept?

English Pages, 7. 9. 2022

Many thanks for organizing this special session and for giving me the floor. I feel obliged to say that even though I consider myself and my country to be part of Central Europe, I know that saying so is a rather problematic statement.

Let me start by quoting the words devoted to this session in the program of the Forum, which we received in advance: “it is our duty to build one´s own identity and defend one´s own interests”. This is an excellent starting point. Nevertheless, our main identity (at least for most of us) is associated with the nation and its state – not with collectivities of nations or with supranational entities, such as the European Union. As I see it, however, Central Europe is not seeking to become a supranational entity.

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Remarks on the 31st Economic Forum in Karpacz, Poland: The Future Has Already Begun

English Pages, 7. 9. 2022

When looking one year back, I see three main new developments:

1. The EU-induced Green Deal has begun to be felt by millions of our fellow citizens. Its very painful consequences have manifested themselves in the form of disruptions of the European energy markets and in the subsequent distortions of our economies, of our living standards and of our social systems;

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