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Vaclav Klaus: the man who won’t budge on EU treaty
Is the Czech president a narcissist, a hypocrite or just a man who knows his own mind?
Given up trying to think of a genuinely principled politician in Europe who is beholden to no-one? Well, there is one, and he resides in a ninth century castle in Prague.
Czech President Vaclav Klaus is coming under enormous pressure from Brussels and other European capitals to sign the EU's Lisbon Treaty. The treaty needs to be ratified by all 27 EU member states to come into effect and after the Yes vote in Ireland earlier this month and the assent of Poland last week, only the Czech Republic's formal consent stands in the way.
Klaus is refusing refusal to sign the treaty as it currently stands because he is concerned that its clauses would enable the families of Germans expelled from Czech territories after World War Two to make legal claims for the return of confiscated property.
His delay has infuriated Brussels and led to warnings that the Czech Republic may be denied EU privileges. "It is in the interests of nobody, least of all the interests of the Czech Republic, to delay matters further," says EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso. "If there is no Lisbon treaty, there is no guarantee for the Czech Republic to have a commissioner."
But if Klaus's track record is anything to go by, we shouldn't bet on him caving in to such threats. The hallmark of his career to date has been a stubborn contrariness.
A committed Eurosceptic, he has slammed the EU's lack of democracy, claiming that "one single option is being promoted and those who dare think about a different option are labelled enemies of European integration".
Unlike other post-communist leaders in Central and Eastern Europe who have followed a staunchly pro-US foreign policy line, Klaus opposed the US-led bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999, criticised the Iraq war, and has taken a more pro-Russian stance, siding with Moscow during its war with Georgia in 2008.
A fearless iconoclast, he has labelled his predecessor as president, the West's favourite Czech politician, the playwright and anti-communist dissident Vaclav Havel, as "the most elitist person I have ever seen in my life".
He has also been a strong and vocal critic of the idea of man-made global warming - claiming that "communism has been replaced by the threat of ambitious environmentalism".
Opponents describe Klaus as a narcissist who loves being the centre of attention. They also call him a hypocrite: the man who said that Europe should be based on a "genuine moral conduct of life" has been exposed as a serial adulterer who has had not one but three affairs with airline stewardesses.
But whatever we think of his private life, or the policy stances he has taken, one thing is undeniable: throughout his career, Klaus has marched to only one tune - his own.
According to some reports, German and French diplomats have been in talks with their Czech counterparts to explore two ways of circumventing Klaus's opposition to the Lisbon treaty. One would be to impeach Klaus, the other to take away his right of veto. The Sunday Times quoted a German diplomat as saying that Klaus will "need to face the consequences" for his obstructionism.
But such moves - and such provocative statements - are only likely to add to his domestic popularity and strengthen his case against the EU and its supporters.
Klaus still has a further four years of his term as president remaining and the fact is that if he continues to hold his ground, it's the Brussels bigwigs who will be forced to make the concessions.
If not, then the Lisbon treaty will fail, and the future of the European project will be put in jeopardy. The stakes could not be higher. ·
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We must all thank the big, poisonous mouth of Daniel Cohn-Bendit for contributing to this wonderful stand by Vaclav Klaus.
"Your president is a toxic virus of Czech politics. His visit to Ireland was absolute madness no one expected," Cohn-Bendit told Czech daily Lidove noviny in December last year.
(source: http://praguemonitor.com/2008/12/09/klaus-argues-cohn-bendit-prez-seat )
Who is having the last laugh? "La vengeance est un plat qui se mange froid" Bet C-B is having apoplexy. Good!!
As Barroso, the smug, self appointed, self elected E.U. generalissimo with his staggering high heeled stooge Sarkozy and their socialist troupe, pressure Vaclav Klaus - as the excremental Brown crams the Labour Party's last days with continued disaster and deceit - as Cameron rocks dishonestly on his wildly swinging fence - Europe slithers towards the brink of a disaster of horrific proportions. If Cameron won't come clean and promise the British a referendum to stay in a Political Europe or leave a 4th Reich in the making -then Vaclav Klaus's brave efforts are lost in the political manure of this century.
out of 27 EU heads of State, one has enough guts and common sense to oppose the UNdemocratic Lisbon Treaty drafted by politicians exiled from their own countries to lucrative salaries and easy going lives in boring Brussels.
Hang on Vaclac Klaus until the fount of democracy is released from the unelected dictator and we in UK can exercise our democratic right to vote.
"Europe should be based on a "genuine moral conduct of life" has been exposed as a serial adulterer who has had not one but three affairs with airline stewardesses."....Surely that is not the relevant notion of "moral". And in any case, is it adultery that is immoral or the (religious) idea of marriage? Adultery puts the fun back into sex; makes it as much fun as it was when it was fornication!
I wonder if this delay will delay our general election as the Conservatives have said that they will give the British people a chance to vote on the treaty.
Brown and New Labour will hold on to the last minuet to stop us having a say in this matter knowing full well (a) they will lose the election (b) the British people will vote NO
What a heroic stand - but I doubt he will hold out long. And he is making the stand for his own people's reasons only, not because he against the creation of a dangerous EU superstate with war-making powers. After the French rejected it, the Dutch rejected it, the Irish rejected it, and the British were denied a referendum by the quisling Labour party - who can respect it? Who can believe that anything other than the deepest, darkest, anti-democrat deception is at the heart of it? It is a disgrace and an affront to civilised progress and national sovereignty. We are seeing the creeping rise of a new socialist empire along the lines of fascist Germany.