Notes for the Berlin IIF Speech

English Pages, 4. 6. 2003

It is a great pleasure and honour to be here today and to be allowed to say a few words. I am aware of the fact that this meeting takes place at the moment of the Twentieth Anniversary of the Institute of International Finance. It is still a young institution but it has already developed into one of the leading organizations in global finance and I am convinced it will continue to expand its presence and activities. I have had the pleasure of speaking at your membership meetings in the past, and I have always enjoyed the opportunity to exchange views with you on various economic and financial issues. I have always had the feeling that I am here among friends. I am glad to be here.

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The Terezin Commemoration Address

English Pages, 20. 5. 2003

Dear citizens, distinguished guests,

Every year we gather at this solemn place to remind ourselves and others of the victims of the Nazi regime, as well as to pay them our respects. Their lives were brutally, tragically and pointlessly extinguished on this very land. Six decades ago, thousands of people marched through the gate of the Little Fortress and the Terezin Ghetto, including men, women and children from our country and other European countries. Many of them were transported on to other concentration camps; many never left this gruesome place.

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Europe, Global Economy, and United States: The Notes for the Munich Speech

English Pages, 2. 5. 2003

I am pleased and honoured to be here today and to get the opportunity to address this distinguished audience. Before starting, I have to say that this is my first speech abroad in my new function - with the exception of speeches at presidential dinners during my first foreign trips. I intend to participate in conferences like this one which means I have to find an uneasy and risky position between official presentations short on ideas and strong views and careless or carefree academic talks full of thoughts-provoking ideas. I am not sure I will succeed in finding it but I will do my best.

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Letter to the President of the U.S.A.

English Pages, 1. 4. 2003

Dear Mr. President,

Thank you for your warm and friendly letter from March 24.

I want to assure you of my long-standing personal friendship toward the United States. On countless occasions I have expressed my admiration for America's conservative values and its committment to the cause of liberty. I have always held in high regard the pragmatism and efficiency of American people and their genuine optimism.

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How I See this War

English Pages, 26. 3. 2003

In an extensive interview for Hospodářské noviny (on March 21), I was asked what is, in my opinion, the reason behind the current war operation against Iraq. I did not reply, as I knew that an answer couldn’t be condensed into one simple sentence. That is why I want to use the format of this article to express my opinions on that topic a little bit more extensively.

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First Inaugural Address delivered by Václav Klaus

English Pages, 7. 3. 2003

Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Guests from home and abroad, Mr. President Václav Havel - and I am saying Mr. President deliberately because I believe that people will always say that (as they should), ...

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Remarks at the European Parliament in Strassbourg

English Pages, 21. 11. 2002

1. As one of the leaders of opposition in the Czech Republic, I would like to say here very clearly that we are ready and willing to participate in the European integration process. We have always been a part of Europe and we do not intend to stay aside just now.

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How to Build a Free and Functioning Society?

English Pages, 16. 10. 2002

For someone like me who spent most of his life in the communist era (not mentioning that I was born when the country was occupied by another totalitarian regime, by Fascist Germany), the dreams, talks, plans and projects how to get rid of it, how to change it, how to reform it, were an integral and ever-present part of his life and his endeavours. Having discussed it over and over again, we understood that two, quite different tasks have to be distinguished.

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Speech at the British Conservative Party Conference

English Pages, 9. 10. 2002

1. It is a great honour to be here with you. Let me, on behalf of the Czech Civic Democratic Party, express our greetings as well as our best wishes for your future political successes. We all in Europe need it and wait for it. My personal wish (and strong belief) is that you remain the strongest and most influential European political party in its advocacy of freedom, parliamentary democracy, free markets and traditional conservative values because your role in Europe is irreplaceable.

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Post-Communist Era: Atmosphere of Victory or of Lost Illusions?

English Pages, 2. 9. 2002

Almost 13 years have passed since the collapse of communism in the Czech Republic and in other Central and East European countries. No one can deny that we have quite rapidly succeeded in liquidating the formal structures and mechanisms of the communist society and in establishing the basic stage of the European version of the system of parliamentary democracy and market economy. This is, on the one hand, not a bad result. My question is, however, whether it is exactly what we – or some of us – really wanted. Whether we are building free society based on classical liberal principles or whether we have fallen into the blind alley of a regulated society, of an unproductive welfare state, of a brave new world of contemporary European socialdemocratism and of an empty and artificial Europeanism (or internationalism).

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