Václav Klaus
Encyclopedia
Václav Klaus (ˈvaːtslaf ˈklaus; born 19 June 1941 in Prague
) is the second President of the Czech Republic
(since 2003) and a former Prime Minister (1992–1997).
An economist, he is co-founder of the Civic Democratic Party, the Czech Republic's largest center-right political party. Klaus is a eurosceptic
, but he reluctantly endorsed the Lisbon treaty as president of his country. He has been called "the Margaret Thatcher
of Central Europe".
neighborhood of Prague and graduated from the University of Economics, Prague
in 1963; he also spent some time at universities in Italy (1966) and at Cornell University
in the United States (1969).
He then pursued a postgraduate academic career at the state Institute of Economics of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, which he left in 1970. He soon obtained a position in the Czechoslovakian State Bank, with permission to travel abroad, a rare privilege.
From 1971 to 1986, he held various positions at the Czechoslovak State Bank, and in 1987 Klaus joined the Prognostics Institute of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences.
Robert Eringer, a former American counterintelligence operative and later intelligence head of Monaco, has written that Klaus worked for the Communist secret police in a number of infiltration operations and that Russia still held archives of his activities.
in 1989 during the second week of the uprising, when he offered his services to the Civic Forum
, whose purpose was to unify the anti-authoritarian forces in Czechoslovakia and to overthrow the Communist regime. He became Czechoslovakia's Minister of Finance in the "government of national unity" on 10 December 1989.
In October 1990, Klaus was elected chairman of the Civic Forum. He continued as Prime Minister after the 1996 election
.
President Václav Havel publicly referred to Klaus's economic policies as "gangster capitalism" and blamed him for corruption; Havel criticized Klaus's policy of voucher privatization and his cadre of close allies such as the dentist, politician, and entrepreneur Miroslav Macek
.
The ODS lost the early elections in 1998
to Czech Social Democratic Party
(ČSSD). Still, the results (unlike any following) would have allowed both parties to create a safe majority with smaller center parties. However, US chairman Jan Ruml refused to support ČSSD. Klaus struck an "opposition agreement" (opoziční smlouva) with ČSSD chairman Miloš Zeman
, his traditional foe, though both also had much mutual respect: ODS tolerated Zeman's minority government
in exchange for a share of control of positions and privatization revenue, including the Speaker of Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic
for Klaus. The Opposition Agreement led to public demonstrations, particularly against the attempt regulate Czech Television. This, in turn, caused Zeman to announce that he would not stand again for the post of prime minister.
ODS went to the elections of June 2002
relying on Klaus's image. At the polls, he was defeated by ČSSD's new leader Vladimír Špidla
, who had rejected the opposition agreement. Eventually, Špidla created a left-center coalition. After long hesitation, and having suffered a loss in the October Senate elections
, Klaus did not run for re-election at the December congress (which declared him honorary chairman). Against his wishes, he was succeeded by Mirek Topolánek
.
Having lost two general elections in a row, Klaus's hold on the ODS appeared to become weaker, and he announced his intention to step down from the leadership and run for President to succeed Václav Havel
, who had been one of his greatest political opponents. However, the governing coalition, buffeted especially by feuds within ČSSD, was unable to agree on a common candidate to oppose him.
Klaus was elected President of the Czech Republic
by secret ballot of the parliament on 28 February 2003 after two failed elections earlier in the month, in the third round of the election (both chambers vote on two top candidates jointly). He won with a majority of 142 votes out of 281. It was widely reported that Klaus won because of the support of Communist members of parliament, support which his opponent, Jan Sokol, publicly refused to accept. Klaus denied the charge that he owed the Communists any debt for his election.
laws, and promised restraint, he exercises his veto more frequently than Havel, generally labeling vetoed bills as illiberal, 'dangerous' and a threat to the country. He vetoed the Anti-Discrimination Law passed by parliament in 2008, saying it's a dangerous threat to personal freedoms as well as the bill implementing EU's Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals policy claiming it to be burdensome for private enterprises.
, perhaps along with his scepticism about anthropogenic climate change, is the defining policy position of his presidency. He claimed that accession to the Union represented a significant reduction of Czech sovereignty and he chose not to give any recommendation before the 2003 accession referendum (77% voted yes).
Klaus's eurosceptic activism has involved writing many articles and giving many speeches against any sharing of sovereignty with the EU. He secured the publication of a work by the Irish Eurosceptic Anthony Coughlan
. In 2005 Klaus called for the EU to be "scrapped" and replaced by a free trade area
to be called the "Organisation of European States." He also attacked the EU as undermining freedom and being as big a threat as the Soviet Union.
In 2005 he remarked to a group of visiting U.S. politicians that the EU was a "failed and bankrupt entity."
In November 2008 during his stay in Ireland
after a state visit
, he held a joint press conference with Declan Ganley
, head of Libertas, which successfully campaigned for a No vote in the referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. Irish ministers called this "an inappropriate intervention", "unusual and disappointing".
Another incident happened on 5 December 2008. Members of the Conference of Presidents of the European Parliament visited Czechia prior to the start of the Czech presidency of the European Union, and met Václav Klaus at Prague Castle. Daniel Cohn-Bendit
, chairman of Green
Group, brought a European flag
and presented it to Klaus. Cohn-Bendit also said that he did not care about Klaus's opinions on the Treaty of Lisbon
, that Klaus would simply have to sign it. Further, Brian Crowley
told Klaus that the Irish
wanted ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon
and were insulted by Klaus's association with Declan Ganley
and the lobby group Libertas. Klaus responded that "the biggest insult to the Irish people is not to accept the result of the referendum". Crowley replied, "You will not tell me what the Irish think. As an Irishman, I know it best." This visit was criticized by some in the media: "This bizarre confrontation...confirms the inability of the Euro-elite to accept that anyone holds different views from their own."
as a common currency of the eurozone
countries. During the observance of the 10th anniversary of the euro in 2008 he expressed his beliefs in a Financial Times article:
, Czech prime minister was confident Klaus would sign the treaty, saying: "There is no reason for anxiety in Europe. The question isn’t Yes or No, it’s only when." of the ratification process.
As early as 2008 Klaus said, as he repeated in an interview with Czech television in November 2008:
In the 1990s, Klaus promoted Czech oil and gas agreements with Russia and opposed other energy sources. He wanted to block construction of a pipeline between the Czech Republic and Germany, which was to become the first non-Russian pipeline in the country.
Also, according to two former Czech security service directors, when he was Prime Minister, the Czech security service warned him that Russian organized crime was spreading in the Czech economy. For example, in one scheme, oil was imported to the Czech Republic as cooking oil and resold as diesel, which allegedly made billions of dollars to Semion Mogilevich
. In response to the warnings, Klaus threatened to disband the security service. Klaus was reportedly seen meeting SVR agents a number times after his corruption scandal in 1997.
The Economist characterizes Klaus as one of Vladimir Putin
's "warmest admirers abroad".
Klaus received the 2007 Pushkin Medal for the promotion of Russian culture from Putin due to his use of Russian with Putin and with Russian diplomats.
In Russia Klaus sees "challenges and successes, tremendous successes".
After the August 2008 South Ossetia war
broke out, he blamed Georgia
. It was later found out that, after the war, Russian energy company Lukoil paid for the translation into Russian and subsequent distribution of Klaus's books on global warming.
Klaus' former chief of staff is a director of CEEI, an energy company which was awarded a billion dollar contract by the government-owned CEZ Group
. CEEI is believed to be controlled by Russia using a Liechtenstein front company U.B.I.E. and one of the other directors is in jail for kidnapping.
In a May 2009 interview for Lidové noviny
, Klaus said Russia was not a threat but still a big, strong and ambitious country which the Czech authorities should beware more than the likes of Estonia
and Lithuania
should.
In late November 2008 Klaus reportedly had a secret meeting with Putin's close confidant Vagit Alekperov, head of Lukoil. When asked about it, Klaus did not deny the reports. The government later awarded a contract to Lukoil which raises the country's already heavy energy dependence on Russia
.
Lukoil has reportedly also cultivated a number of other politicians including Milos Zeman
, whose party has admitted taking money from Russian lobbyists. Milos Zeman's close partner Miroslav Slouf
has been called the "Cardinal Richelieu of Czech politics". Slouf is a former communist party apparatchik turned lobbyist who has been filmed on numerous occasions entering and leaving buildings belonging to the Russian embassy. The Czech media have been documenting secret meetings between Slouf and Klaus's aide Jiri Weigl who reportedly asked Slouf to exert his influence within the Social Democratic Party to back the Klauss bid for re-election in February 2008.
Analysts have noted that Klaus's resistance to signing the Lisbon Treaty, despite being obligated to do so by Czech law, "put him in step with the Kremlin yet again, this time over one of Moscow's biggest foreign-policy goals: splitting European unity".
Václav Klaus has many times voiced his disagreement with the unilateral Kosovo declaration of independence
. During his visit to Slovakia in March 2008, Klaus categorically rejected the argument that Kosovo
was a special case and said that it set a precedent as the countries recognizing Kosovo opened a Pandora's box
in Europe that could have disastrous consequences, comparing it to the 1938 Munich treaty. When Serbia
recalled its ambassador in protest of Czech government's recognition of Kosovo, he was invited to the Prague Castle for a friendly farewell. In his visit to Serbia in January, 2011, he also stated that during the time of his presidency the Czech Republic would not appoint an ambassador to Kosovo.
, rather than by secret ballot
. This was a precondition demanded by most of the Czech political parties after the last experience, but long opposed by Klaus's Civic Democratic Party which had strengthened since 2003, already had the safe majority in the Senate
even by itself and needed only to secure a few votes in the House for the third round.
Klaus's opponent was the former émigré, naturalized United States citizen and University of Michigan
economics professor Jan Švejnar
. He was nominated by Green Party
as the pro-EU moderate candidate, gaining the support of the leading opposition Czech Social Democratic Party
, a smaller part of KDU-ČSL and some independent Senators. The first ballot on 8–9 February 2008 resulted in no winner. Švejnar won the Chamber of Deputies
, but Klaus led in the assembly as a whole and barely failed to achieve the requisite majority.
The second ballot on Friday 15 February 2008 brought a new candidate MEP
Jana Bobošíková
, nominated by the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia
. However not drawing any wider support, she withdrew her candidacy before the election itself. The first and second rounds ended similarly to the previous weekend. However, Klaus consistently had 141 votes. Thus in the third round, where the only goal is to achieve a majority of all legislators present from both houses, Klaus won by the smallest possible margin. Švejnar received 111 votes, the 29 Communists voting for neither.
Klaus's first term as President concluded on Friday 7 March 2008; he took oath for the second term on the same day so as not to create a president-less interregnum
since the Parliament could not otherwise come to a joint session before the following Tuesday. Thus, he lost the day of overlap and his second term will end on 6 March 2013.
is anthropogenic: "Global warming is a false myth and every serious person and scientist says so." and if it is, that globally coordinated government action is necessary. He has also criticized the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
as a group of politicized scientists with one-sided opinions and one-sided assignments. He has said that other top-level politicians do not expose their doubts about global warming because "a whip of political correctness strangles their voices."
In addition he says, "Environmentalism should belong in the social sciences" along with other "isms" such as communism, feminism, and liberalism. Klaus said that "environmentalism is a religion" and, in an answer to the questions of the U.S. Congressmen, a "modern counterpart of communism" that seeks to change peoples' habits and economic systems.
In a June 2007 Financial Times
article, Klaus called ambitious environmentalism "the biggest threat to freedom
, democracy, the market economy
and prosperity
", hinted that parts of the present political and scientific debate on the environment are suppressing freedom and democracy, and asked for readers opposing the term "scientific consensus
", saying that "it is always achieved only by a loud minority, never by a silent majority". In an online Q&A session following the article he wrote "Environmentalism, not preservation of nature (and of environment), is a leftist ideology... Environmentalism is indeed a vehicle for bringing us socialist government at the global level. Again, my life in communism makes me oversensitive in this respect." He reiterated these statements at a showing of Martin Durkin
's The Great Global Warming Swindle
organised by his think tank CEP in June 2007, becoming the only head of state to endorse the film.
In November 2007 BBC World
's Hardtalk
Klaus called the interviewer "absolutely arrogant" for claiming that a scientific consensus embracing the bulk of the world had been reached on climate change and said that he was "absolutely certain" that people would look back in 30 years and thank him.
At a September 2007 United Nations Climate Change Conference, Klaus spoke of his disbelief in global warming, calling for a second IPCC to be set up to produce competing reports, and for countries to be left alone to set their priorities and prepare their own plans for the problem.
In 2007, Klaus published a book titled Modrá, nikoli zelená planeta (literally "Blue planet – not green"). The book has been translated from the Czech into various languages. The title in English, which is not a direct translation, is "Blue Planet in Green Shackles". It claims that "The theory of global warming and the hypothesis on its causes, which has spread around massively nowadays, may be a bad theory, it may also be a valueless theory, but in any case it is a very dangerous theory."
At the September 2009 UN Climate Change Conference, Klaus again voiced his disapproval, calling the gathering "propagandistic" and "undignified."
On July 26, 2011 at the National Press Club Address, Klaus pronounced himself yet again against global warming calling it "a communist conspiracy".
His defining issue since 1990 has been an enthusiasm for the free market
economy as exemplified by Friedrich Hayek
and Milton Friedman
. According to Klaus, legislation and institutions cannot be created before economic transformation, they have to go hand in hand.
Since 1990, Václav Klaus has received nearly 50 honorary degrees, among them, one from Universidad Francisco Marroquín
and published more than 20 books on various social, political, and economics subjects. Klaus is a member of the Mont Pelerin Society
. He has published articles in the libertarian free-market Cato Journal
. On 28 May 2008, Klaus gave the keynote address at an annual dinner hosted by the Competitive Enterprise Institute
, a free market advocacy group in Washington, D.C., and received its Julian L. Simon Memorial Award.
Klaus became the foreign member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts
in 2009.
, the national capital of Australia
, Klaus declined to pass through electronic security at the Australian Parliament House in order to be interviewed by ABC Television
at its studio
. Australian Broadcasting Corporation
staff tried to convince security staff to allow the President to bypass security but they declined the request, and Klaus left the building. Klaus commented that it was not an issue of passing through the electronic security system, rather of handling the whole situation. Firstly, when he and his entourage arrived on time, nobody was expecting him. After waiting for ten minutes in front of the building, a worker of the ABC Television
invited him in, where he was left "among perhaps as many as hundred school children". After a few minutes he found out that the whole group was waiting for a security clearance. Klaus refused to waste more time waiting in line behind the school children and offered ABC Television to conduct the interview in his hotel, which ABC declined as it was already set up for the interview in the Parliament House studio. Klaus' approach was further backed up by the president’s office head of protocol, Jindřich Forejt, who described his boss’ Australian treatment as “incredible.” Czech lifestyle commentator Ladislav Špaček further commented that "it is absolutely out of place to check a head of state; it is disrespectful. I am not at all surprised that Klaus turned around and went off. He should not be there trying to agree with some operative that he is not a terrorist."
, a Slovak
economist. They have two sons, Václav (a private secondary school headmaster) and Jan (an economist), and five grandchildren.
It has been claimed that Klaus has had several extramarital affairs. The first, in 1991, was with Eva Svobodová.
In summer 2002, Klaus was photographed by a tabloid as having a "special relationship" with 24-year-old economy student Klára Lohniská. One paper claimed he spent the night after his second presidential inauguration (7 March 2008) with 25-year-old Petra Bednářová.
|-
|-
|-
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
) is the second President of the Czech Republic
President of the Czech Republic
The President of the Czech Republic is the head of state of the Czech Republic. Unlike his counterparts in Austria and Hungary, who are generally considered figureheads, the Czech President has a considerable role in political affairs...
(since 2003) and a former Prime Minister (1992–1997).
An economist, he is co-founder of the Civic Democratic Party, the Czech Republic's largest center-right political party. Klaus is a eurosceptic
EuroSceptic
EuroSceptic is the second album of British singer Jack Lucien. It was released in October 2009.Due to being an album influenced by Europop, it features songs with parts in different languages...
, but he reluctantly endorsed the Lisbon treaty as president of his country. He has been called "the Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
of Central Europe".
Early life
Klaus grew up in the upper-middle class residential VinohradyVinohrady
Vinohrady is a cadastral district in Prague. It is so named because the area was once covered in vineyards dating from the 14th century...
neighborhood of Prague and graduated from the University of Economics, Prague
University of Economics, Prague
The University of Economics, Prague, is a public university located in Prague, Czech Republic. It is the largest university in the field of economics, business and information technologies in the Czech Republic with almost 20,000 students in its bachelor, masters and doctoral programmes.-Schools...
in 1963; he also spent some time at universities in Italy (1966) and at Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
in the United States (1969).
He then pursued a postgraduate academic career at the state Institute of Economics of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, which he left in 1970. He soon obtained a position in the Czechoslovakian State Bank, with permission to travel abroad, a rare privilege.
From 1971 to 1986, he held various positions at the Czechoslovak State Bank, and in 1987 Klaus joined the Prognostics Institute of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences.
Robert Eringer, a former American counterintelligence operative and later intelligence head of Monaco, has written that Klaus worked for the Communist secret police in a number of infiltration operations and that Russia still held archives of his activities.
Rise to premiership
Klaus entered politics during the Velvet RevolutionVelvet Revolution
The Velvet Revolution or Gentle Revolution was a non-violent revolution in Czechoslovakia that took place from November 17 – December 29, 1989...
in 1989 during the second week of the uprising, when he offered his services to the Civic Forum
Civic Forum
The Civic Forum was a political movement in the Czech part of Czechoslovakia, established during the Velvet Revolution in 1989...
, whose purpose was to unify the anti-authoritarian forces in Czechoslovakia and to overthrow the Communist regime. He became Czechoslovakia's Minister of Finance in the "government of national unity" on 10 December 1989.
In October 1990, Klaus was elected chairman of the Civic Forum. He continued as Prime Minister after the 1996 election
Czech legislative election, 1996
Parliamentary elections were held in the Czech Republic on 31 May and 1 June 1996, the first after independence. The result was a victory for the Civic Democratic Party, which won 68 of the 200 seats. Voter turnout was 76.3%.-Results:...
.
Funding scandal
In 1997 Klaus was forced to step down as the Prime Minister due to a financing scandal in his party.President Václav Havel publicly referred to Klaus's economic policies as "gangster capitalism" and blamed him for corruption; Havel criticized Klaus's policy of voucher privatization and his cadre of close allies such as the dentist, politician, and entrepreneur Miroslav Macek
Miroslav Macek
Miroslav Macek is a politician and former deputy prime minister of the Czech Republic....
.
Defeats
At the mid-December IX. congress, Klaus was confirmed as chairman by 227 votes of 312 delegates; the defeated faction left ODS and in early 1998 established a new party named Freedom Union (Unie svobody, US) with president Václav Havel's sympathies.The ODS lost the early elections in 1998
Czech legislative election, 1998
Parliamentary elections were held in the Czech Republic on 19 and 20 June 1998. The result was a victory for the Czech Social Democratic Party, which won 74 of the 200 seats. Voter turnout was 73.9%.-Results:...
to Czech Social Democratic Party
Czech Social Democratic Party
The Czech Social Democratic Party is a social-democratic political party in the Czech Republic.-History:The Social Democratic Czechoslavonic party in Austria was founded on 7 April 1878 in Austria-Hungary representing the Kingdom of Bohemia in the Austrian parliament...
(ČSSD). Still, the results (unlike any following) would have allowed both parties to create a safe majority with smaller center parties. However, US chairman Jan Ruml refused to support ČSSD. Klaus struck an "opposition agreement" (opoziční smlouva) with ČSSD chairman Miloš Zeman
Miloš Zeman
Miloš Zeman is a well-known Czech politician. He was a member and leader of the Czech Social Democratic Party, former speaker of the chamber of deputies from 1996 until 1998, and the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic from 1998 until 2002. He was a frequent rival of Václav Klaus...
, his traditional foe, though both also had much mutual respect: ODS tolerated Zeman's minority government
Minority government
A minority government or a minority cabinet is a cabinet of a parliamentary system formed when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in the parliament but is sworn into government to break a Hung Parliament election result. It is also known as a...
in exchange for a share of control of positions and privatization revenue, including the Speaker of Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic
Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic
The Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of the Czech Republic. The seat of the Chamber of Deputies is situated in palaces in Malá Strana, Prague....
for Klaus. The Opposition Agreement led to public demonstrations, particularly against the attempt regulate Czech Television. This, in turn, caused Zeman to announce that he would not stand again for the post of prime minister.
ODS went to the elections of June 2002
Czech legislative election, 2002
Parliamentary elections were held in the Czech Republic on 14 and 15 June 2002. The result was a victory for the Czech Social Democratic Party, which won 70 of the 200 seats. Voter turnout was 57.9%.-Results:...
relying on Klaus's image. At the polls, he was defeated by ČSSD's new leader Vladimír Špidla
Vladimír Špidla
Vladimír Špidla is a Czech politician. He served as Prime Minister of the Czech Republic from July 2002 to June 2004. Then Vladimír Špidla was appointed to the European Commission as Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities.-Biography:Špidla studied history at Charles...
, who had rejected the opposition agreement. Eventually, Špidla created a left-center coalition. After long hesitation, and having suffered a loss in the October Senate elections
Czech Senate election, 2002
Senate elections were held in the Czech Republic on 25 and 26 October 2002, with a second round on 1 and 2 November. The result was a victory for the Civic Democratic Party, which won 26 of the 81 seats. Voter turnout was just 24.1% in the first round and 31.7% in the second.-Results:...
, Klaus did not run for re-election at the December congress (which declared him honorary chairman). Against his wishes, he was succeeded by Mirek Topolánek
Mirek Topolánek
Mirek Topolánek is a former prime minister of the Czech Republic and former President of the European Council. A member of the Civic Democratic Party, he was chairman of the center-right party between November 2002 and March 2010, succeeding Václav Klaus, who was elected President in 2003.On 24...
.
Presidency
Having lost two general elections in a row, Klaus's hold on the ODS appeared to become weaker, and he announced his intention to step down from the leadership and run for President to succeed Václav Havel
Václav Havel
Václav Havel is a Czech playwright, essayist, poet, dissident and politician. He was the tenth and last President of Czechoslovakia and the first President of the Czech Republic . He has written over twenty plays and numerous non-fiction works, translated internationally...
, who had been one of his greatest political opponents. However, the governing coalition, buffeted especially by feuds within ČSSD, was unable to agree on a common candidate to oppose him.
Klaus was elected President of the Czech Republic
President of the Czech Republic
The President of the Czech Republic is the head of state of the Czech Republic. Unlike his counterparts in Austria and Hungary, who are generally considered figureheads, the Czech President has a considerable role in political affairs...
by secret ballot of the parliament on 28 February 2003 after two failed elections earlier in the month, in the third round of the election (both chambers vote on two top candidates jointly). He won with a majority of 142 votes out of 281. It was widely reported that Klaus won because of the support of Communist members of parliament, support which his opponent, Jan Sokol, publicly refused to accept. Klaus denied the charge that he owed the Communists any debt for his election.
Vetos
Although Klaus regularly criticized Havel for having used his power to vetoVeto
A veto, Latin for "I forbid", is the power of an officer of the state to unilaterally stop an official action, especially enactment of a piece of legislation...
laws, and promised restraint, he exercises his veto more frequently than Havel, generally labeling vetoed bills as illiberal, 'dangerous' and a threat to the country. He vetoed the Anti-Discrimination Law passed by parliament in 2008, saying it's a dangerous threat to personal freedoms as well as the bill implementing EU's Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals policy claiming it to be burdensome for private enterprises.
Eurosceptic beliefs
Klaus's euroscepticismEuroscepticism
Euroscepticism is a general term used to describe criticism of the European Union , and opposition to the process of European integration, existing throughout the political spectrum. Traditionally, the main source of euroscepticism has been the notion that integration weakens the nation state...
, perhaps along with his scepticism about anthropogenic climate change, is the defining policy position of his presidency. He claimed that accession to the Union represented a significant reduction of Czech sovereignty and he chose not to give any recommendation before the 2003 accession referendum (77% voted yes).
Klaus's eurosceptic activism has involved writing many articles and giving many speeches against any sharing of sovereignty with the EU. He secured the publication of a work by the Irish Eurosceptic Anthony Coughlan
Anthony Coughlan
Anthony Coughlan is a left-wing academic, retired Senior Lecturer Emeritus in Social Policy at Trinity College and Secretary of the The National Platform for EU Research and Information Centre....
. In 2005 Klaus called for the EU to be "scrapped" and replaced by a free trade area
Free trade area
A free trade area is a trade bloc whose member countries have signed a free trade agreement , which eliminates tariffs, import quotas, and preferences on most goods and services traded between them. If people are also free to move between the countries, in addition to FTA, it would also be...
to be called the "Organisation of European States." He also attacked the EU as undermining freedom and being as big a threat as the Soviet Union.
In 2005 he remarked to a group of visiting U.S. politicians that the EU was a "failed and bankrupt entity."
In November 2008 during his stay in Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
after a state visit
State visit
A state visit is a formal visit by a foreign head of state to another nation, at the invitation of that nation's head of state. State visits are the highest form of diplomatic contact between two nations, and are marked by ceremonial pomp and diplomatic protocol. In parliamentary democracies, heads...
, he held a joint press conference with Declan Ganley
Declan Ganley
Declan James Ganley is a British-born Irish citizen, entrepreneur, businessman and political activist. He is founder and chairman of a political party, Libertas with pan-European ambitions...
, head of Libertas, which successfully campaigned for a No vote in the referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. Irish ministers called this "an inappropriate intervention", "unusual and disappointing".
Another incident happened on 5 December 2008. Members of the Conference of Presidents of the European Parliament visited Czechia prior to the start of the Czech presidency of the European Union, and met Václav Klaus at Prague Castle. Daniel Cohn-Bendit
Daniel Cohn-Bendit
Daniel Marc Cohn-Bendit is a Franco-German politician, active in both countries. He was a student leader during the unrest of May 1968 in France and he was also known during that time as Dany le Rouge...
, chairman of Green
European Green Party
The European Green Party is the Green political party at European level. As such it is a federation of green parties in Europe.-History:...
Group, brought a European flag
European flag
The flag of Europe consists of a circle of 12 golden stars on an azure background. It is the flag and emblem of the European Union and Council of Europe . It is also often used to indicate eurozone countries, and, more loosely, to represent the continent of Europe or the countries of Europe...
and presented it to Klaus. Cohn-Bendit also said that he did not care about Klaus's opinions on the Treaty of Lisbon
Treaty of Lisbon
The Treaty of Lisbon of 1668 was a peace treaty between Portugal and Spain, concluded at Lisbon on 13 February 1668, through the mediation of England, in which Spain recognized the sovereignty of Portugal's new ruling dynasty, the House of Braganza....
, that Klaus would simply have to sign it. Further, Brian Crowley
Brian Crowley
Brian Crowley is an Irish Fianna Fáil politician and a Member of the European Parliament for the South constituency. He was co-president of the Union for Europe of the Nations group in the European Parliament in which Fianna Fáil sat until it joined the ELDR and, by extension, ALDE...
told Klaus that the Irish
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
wanted ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon
Treaty of Lisbon
The Treaty of Lisbon of 1668 was a peace treaty between Portugal and Spain, concluded at Lisbon on 13 February 1668, through the mediation of England, in which Spain recognized the sovereignty of Portugal's new ruling dynasty, the House of Braganza....
and were insulted by Klaus's association with Declan Ganley
Declan Ganley
Declan James Ganley is a British-born Irish citizen, entrepreneur, businessman and political activist. He is founder and chairman of a political party, Libertas with pan-European ambitions...
and the lobby group Libertas. Klaus responded that "the biggest insult to the Irish people is not to accept the result of the referendum". Crowley replied, "You will not tell me what the Irish think. As an Irishman, I know it best." This visit was criticized by some in the media: "This bizarre confrontation...confirms the inability of the Euro-elite to accept that anyone holds different views from their own."
Eurozone
Klaus is a long-term opponent of centrally implemented economic policy of the EU and the euroEuro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
as a common currency of the eurozone
Eurozone
The eurozone , officially called the euro area, is an economic and monetary union of seventeen European Union member states that have adopted the euro as their common currency and sole legal tender...
countries. During the observance of the 10th anniversary of the euro in 2008 he expressed his beliefs in a Financial Times article:
If Europe does not wake up, it will face hard times. A common monetary policy will not help. Member countries already react differently to the appreciation of the euro against the dollar, the rising cost of energy, food or raw materials, and Asian competition. . . . In practice, the existence of euro has shown that forcing an economically disparate Europe into a homogeneous entity through a political decision is political engineering par excellence, far from beneficial for all countries concerned.
Lisbon treaty
Klaus long refused to sign the Lisbon treaty, being the last to give his signature. European leaders however made clear that they would not let Klaus "hold them hostage". Jan FischerJan Fischer (politician)
Jan Fischer was Prime Minister of the caretaker government of Czech Republic in 2009−2010. A lifelong statistician, he was previously the president of the Czech Statistical Office since April 2003.- Personal life and education :...
, Czech prime minister was confident Klaus would sign the treaty, saying: "There is no reason for anxiety in Europe. The question isn’t Yes or No, it’s only when." of the ratification process.
As early as 2008 Klaus said, as he repeated in an interview with Czech television in November 2008:
I can only can repeat aloud one of my verdicts. If indeed all agree that the Lisbon Treaty is a 'golden nut' for Europe, that it must exist, and that there is one single person who would block it, and that person is the Czech president, so that is what I will not do. That is all.
Russia and Russian energy companies
On some issues like energy policy, Klaus has sought cooperation with Russia.In the 1990s, Klaus promoted Czech oil and gas agreements with Russia and opposed other energy sources. He wanted to block construction of a pipeline between the Czech Republic and Germany, which was to become the first non-Russian pipeline in the country.
Also, according to two former Czech security service directors, when he was Prime Minister, the Czech security service warned him that Russian organized crime was spreading in the Czech economy. For example, in one scheme, oil was imported to the Czech Republic as cooking oil and resold as diesel, which allegedly made billions of dollars to Semion Mogilevich
Semion Mogilevich
Semion Yudkovich Mogilevich is a Ukrainian-born organized crime boss, believed by European and United States federal law enforcement agencies to be the "boss of bosses" of most Russian Mafia syndicates in the world...
. In response to the warnings, Klaus threatened to disband the security service. Klaus was reportedly seen meeting SVR agents a number times after his corruption scandal in 1997.
The Economist characterizes Klaus as one of Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin served as the second President of the Russian Federation and is the current Prime Minister of Russia, as well as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus. He became acting President on 31 December 1999, when...
's "warmest admirers abroad".
Klaus received the 2007 Pushkin Medal for the promotion of Russian culture from Putin due to his use of Russian with Putin and with Russian diplomats.
In Russia Klaus sees "challenges and successes, tremendous successes".
After the August 2008 South Ossetia war
2008 South Ossetia war
The 2008 South Ossetia War or Russo-Georgian War was an armed conflict in August 2008 between Georgia on one side, and Russia and separatist governments of South Ossetia and Abkhazia on the other....
broke out, he blamed Georgia
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
. It was later found out that, after the war, Russian energy company Lukoil paid for the translation into Russian and subsequent distribution of Klaus's books on global warming.
Klaus' former chief of staff is a director of CEEI, an energy company which was awarded a billion dollar contract by the government-owned CEZ Group
CEZ Group
CEZ Group is a conglomerate of 96 companies , 72 of them in the Czech Republic. It is involved in the electricity generation, distribution, and trade. CEZ Group operates also in Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Germany, Hungary, Kosovo, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and...
. CEEI is believed to be controlled by Russia using a Liechtenstein front company U.B.I.E. and one of the other directors is in jail for kidnapping.
In a May 2009 interview for Lidové noviny
Lidové noviny
Lidové noviny is a daily newspaper published in the Czech Republic. It is the oldest Czech daily. Its profile is nowadays a national news daily covering political, economic, cultural and scientific affairs, mostly with a centre-right, conservative view...
, Klaus said Russia was not a threat but still a big, strong and ambitious country which the Czech authorities should beware more than the likes of Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
and Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
should.
In late November 2008 Klaus reportedly had a secret meeting with Putin's close confidant Vagit Alekperov, head of Lukoil. When asked about it, Klaus did not deny the reports. The government later awarded a contract to Lukoil which raises the country's already heavy energy dependence on Russia
Russia in the European energy sector
Russia has a significant role in the European energy sector as the largest exporter of oil and natural gas to the European Union. In 2007, the European Union imported from Russia 185 million tonnes of crude oil, which accounted for 32.6% of total oil import, and 100.7 million tonnes of...
.
Lukoil has reportedly also cultivated a number of other politicians including Milos Zeman
Miloš Zeman
Miloš Zeman is a well-known Czech politician. He was a member and leader of the Czech Social Democratic Party, former speaker of the chamber of deputies from 1996 until 1998, and the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic from 1998 until 2002. He was a frequent rival of Václav Klaus...
, whose party has admitted taking money from Russian lobbyists. Milos Zeman's close partner Miroslav Slouf
Miroslav Šlouf
Miroslav Šlouf is a Czech political lobbyist.Between 1981 and 1992 he was a member of the Czech National Council. In 2000, he ran an unsuccessful campaign for senate as a Chrudim District candidate of the Czech Social Democratic Party.The Party of Civic Rights – Zemanovci received money from...
has been called the "Cardinal Richelieu of Czech politics". Slouf is a former communist party apparatchik turned lobbyist who has been filmed on numerous occasions entering and leaving buildings belonging to the Russian embassy. The Czech media have been documenting secret meetings between Slouf and Klaus's aide Jiri Weigl who reportedly asked Slouf to exert his influence within the Social Democratic Party to back the Klauss bid for re-election in February 2008.
Analysts have noted that Klaus's resistance to signing the Lisbon Treaty, despite being obligated to do so by Czech law, "put him in step with the Kremlin yet again, this time over one of Moscow's biggest foreign-policy goals: splitting European unity".
Kosovo
Klaus joined Russia to oppose NATO bombings of FR Yugoslavia during the Kosovo crisis.Václav Klaus has many times voiced his disagreement with the unilateral Kosovo declaration of independence
2008 Kosovo declaration of independence
The 2008 Kosovo declaration of independence was adopted on 17 February 2008 by individual members of the Assembly of Kosovo acting in personal capacity and not binding to the Assembly itself...
. During his visit to Slovakia in March 2008, Klaus categorically rejected the argument that Kosovo
Kosovo
Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...
was a special case and said that it set a precedent as the countries recognizing Kosovo opened a Pandora's box
Pandora's box
Pandora's box is an artifact in Greek mythology, taken from the myth of Pandora's creation around line 60 of Hesiod's Works and Days. The "box" was actually a large jar given to Pandora , which contained all the evils of the world. When Pandora opened the jar, all its contents except for one item...
in Europe that could have disastrous consequences, comparing it to the 1938 Munich treaty. When Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
recalled its ambassador in protest of Czech government's recognition of Kosovo, he was invited to the Prague Castle for a friendly farewell. In his visit to Serbia in January, 2011, he also stated that during the time of his presidency the Czech Republic would not appoint an ambassador to Kosovo.
Re-election
The Czech Presidential election of 2008 differed from past ones in that the voting was on the recordRecorded vote
A recorded vote is a vote in which the names of those voting for and against a motion may be recorded.In many deliberative bodies , questions may be decided by voice vote, but the voice vote does not allow one to determine at a later date which members voted for and against the motion...
, rather than by secret ballot
Secret ballot
The secret ballot is a voting method in which a voter's choices in an election or a referendum are anonymous. The key aim is to ensure the voter records a sincere choice by forestalling attempts to influence the voter by intimidation or bribery. The system is one means of achieving the goal of...
. This was a precondition demanded by most of the Czech political parties after the last experience, but long opposed by Klaus's Civic Democratic Party which had strengthened since 2003, already had the safe majority in the Senate
Senate of the Czech Republic
The Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic , usually referred to as Senát, is the upper chamber of the Parliament of the Czech Republic...
even by itself and needed only to secure a few votes in the House for the third round.
Klaus's opponent was the former émigré, naturalized United States citizen and University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
economics professor Jan Švejnar
Jan Švejnar
Jan Švejnar is a USA-based, Czech-born economist. He was an unsuccessful candidate for the 2008 election of the President of the Czech Republic....
. He was nominated by Green Party
Green Party (Czech Republic)
The Green Party is a political party in the Czech Republic.The party was founded in February 1990 but for a long time it struggled to obtain significant influence in Czech politics. In the 2002 legislative election the party received 2.4% of the vote...
as the pro-EU moderate candidate, gaining the support of the leading opposition Czech Social Democratic Party
Czech Social Democratic Party
The Czech Social Democratic Party is a social-democratic political party in the Czech Republic.-History:The Social Democratic Czechoslavonic party in Austria was founded on 7 April 1878 in Austria-Hungary representing the Kingdom of Bohemia in the Austrian parliament...
, a smaller part of KDU-ČSL and some independent Senators. The first ballot on 8–9 February 2008 resulted in no winner. Švejnar won the Chamber of Deputies
Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic
The Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of the Czech Republic. The seat of the Chamber of Deputies is situated in palaces in Malá Strana, Prague....
, but Klaus led in the assembly as a whole and barely failed to achieve the requisite majority.
The second ballot on Friday 15 February 2008 brought a new candidate MEP
Member of the European Parliament
A Member of the European Parliament is a person who has been elected to the European Parliament. The name of MEPs differ in different languages, with terms such as europarliamentarian or eurodeputy being common in Romance language-speaking areas.When the European Parliament was first established,...
Jana Bobošíková
Jana Bobošíková
Jana Bobošíková is a Czech politician and former Member of the European Parliament and was Non-Inscrit in the European Parliament....
, nominated by the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia
Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia
The Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia , abbreviated to KSČM, is a political party in the Czech Republic. It has a membership of 82,994 and is a member party of the European United Left - Nordic Green Left bloc in the European Parliament...
. However not drawing any wider support, she withdrew her candidacy before the election itself. The first and second rounds ended similarly to the previous weekend. However, Klaus consistently had 141 votes. Thus in the third round, where the only goal is to achieve a majority of all legislators present from both houses, Klaus won by the smallest possible margin. Švejnar received 111 votes, the 29 Communists voting for neither.
Klaus's first term as President concluded on Friday 7 March 2008; he took oath for the second term on the same day so as not to create a president-less interregnum
Interregnum
An interregnum is a period of discontinuity or "gap" in a government, organization, or social order...
since the Parliament could not otherwise come to a joint session before the following Tuesday. Thus, he lost the day of overlap and his second term will end on 6 March 2013.
Critic of anthropogenic global warming
Klaus is a vocal critic of the notion that any global warmingGlobal warming
Global warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...
is anthropogenic: "Global warming is a false myth and every serious person and scientist says so." and if it is, that globally coordinated government action is necessary. He has also criticized the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is a scientific intergovernmental body which provides comprehensive assessments of current scientific, technical and socio-economic information worldwide about the risk of climate change caused by human activity, its potential environmental and...
as a group of politicized scientists with one-sided opinions and one-sided assignments. He has said that other top-level politicians do not expose their doubts about global warming because "a whip of political correctness strangles their voices."
In addition he says, "Environmentalism should belong in the social sciences" along with other "isms" such as communism, feminism, and liberalism. Klaus said that "environmentalism is a religion" and, in an answer to the questions of the U.S. Congressmen, a "modern counterpart of communism" that seeks to change peoples' habits and economic systems.
In a June 2007 Financial Times
Financial Times
The Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....
article, Klaus called ambitious environmentalism "the biggest threat to freedom
Freedom (political)
Political freedom is a central philosophy in Western history and political thought, and one of the most important features of democratic societies...
, democracy, the market economy
Market economy
A market economy is an economy in which the prices of goods and services are determined in a free price system. This is often contrasted with a state-directed or planned economy. Market economies can range from hypothetically pure laissez-faire variants to an assortment of real-world mixed...
and prosperity
Prosperity
Prosperity is the state of flourishing, thriving, good fortune and/or successful social status. Prosperity often encompasses wealth but also includes others factors which are independent of wealth to varying degrees, such as happiness and health....
", hinted that parts of the present political and scientific debate on the environment are suppressing freedom and democracy, and asked for readers opposing the term "scientific consensus
Scientific consensus
Scientific consensus is the collective judgment, position, and opinion of the community of scientists in a particular field of study. Consensus implies general agreement, though not necessarily unanimity. Scientific consensus is not by itself a scientific argument, and it is not part of the...
", saying that "it is always achieved only by a loud minority, never by a silent majority". In an online Q&A session following the article he wrote "Environmentalism, not preservation of nature (and of environment), is a leftist ideology... Environmentalism is indeed a vehicle for bringing us socialist government at the global level. Again, my life in communism makes me oversensitive in this respect." He reiterated these statements at a showing of Martin Durkin
Martin Durkin (television director)
Martin Durkin is a television producer and director, most prominently of television documentaries for Channel 4 in Britain. He is managing director of WAG TV, a London-based independent TV production company. He has produced, directed and executive-produced a wide variety of programmes covering...
's The Great Global Warming Swindle
The Great Global Warming Swindle
The Great Global Warming Swindle is a polemical documentary film that suggests that the scientific opinion on climate change is influenced by funding and political factors, and questions whether scientific consensus on anthropogenic global warming exists....
organised by his think tank CEP in June 2007, becoming the only head of state to endorse the film.
In November 2007 BBC World
BBC World
BBC World News is the BBC's international news and current affairs television channel. It has the largest audience of any BBC channel in the world...
's Hardtalk
HARDtalk
Hardtalk is a flagship BBC television programme, consisting of in-depth half-hour one-on-one interviews.It is broadcast four days a week on BBC World News and the BBC News channel. Launched in 1997, much of its worldwide fame is due to its global reach via BBC World...
Klaus called the interviewer "absolutely arrogant" for claiming that a scientific consensus embracing the bulk of the world had been reached on climate change and said that he was "absolutely certain" that people would look back in 30 years and thank him.
At a September 2007 United Nations Climate Change Conference, Klaus spoke of his disbelief in global warming, calling for a second IPCC to be set up to produce competing reports, and for countries to be left alone to set their priorities and prepare their own plans for the problem.
In 2007, Klaus published a book titled Modrá, nikoli zelená planeta (literally "Blue planet – not green"). The book has been translated from the Czech into various languages. The title in English, which is not a direct translation, is "Blue Planet in Green Shackles". It claims that "The theory of global warming and the hypothesis on its causes, which has spread around massively nowadays, may be a bad theory, it may also be a valueless theory, but in any case it is a very dangerous theory."
At the September 2009 UN Climate Change Conference, Klaus again voiced his disapproval, calling the gathering "propagandistic" and "undignified."
On July 26, 2011 at the National Press Club Address, Klaus pronounced himself yet again against global warming calling it "a communist conspiracy".
Other activities
In 1995, as Prime Minister, he applied for and was awarded the degree of Professor of Finance from his alma mater, so he is sometimes addressed as "Mr. Professor" as is customary in the Czech Republic. As the president, Klaus occasionally teaches a seminar course in economics at the University of Economics. The course focuses on Klaus's free-market concerns.His defining issue since 1990 has been an enthusiasm for the free market
Free market
A free market is a competitive market where prices are determined by supply and demand. However, the term is also commonly used for markets in which economic intervention and regulation by the state is limited to tax collection, and enforcement of private ownership and contracts...
economy as exemplified by Friedrich Hayek
Friedrich Hayek
Friedrich August Hayek CH , born in Austria-Hungary as Friedrich August von Hayek, was an economist and philosopher best known for his defense of classical liberalism and free-market capitalism against socialist and collectivist thought...
and Milton Friedman
Milton Friedman
Milton Friedman was an American economist, statistician, academic, and author who taught at the University of Chicago for more than three decades...
. According to Klaus, legislation and institutions cannot be created before economic transformation, they have to go hand in hand.
Since 1990, Václav Klaus has received nearly 50 honorary degrees, among them, one from Universidad Francisco Marroquín
Universidad Francisco Marroquín
Universidad Francisco Marroquín is a private, secular, university in Guatemala City, Guatemala. According to the school's website, "the mission of Universidad Francisco Marroquín is to teach and disseminate the ethical, legal and economic principles of a sociey of free and responsible persons."...
and published more than 20 books on various social, political, and economics subjects. Klaus is a member of the Mont Pelerin Society
Mont Pelerin Society
The Mont Pelerin Society is an international organization composed of economists , philosophers, historians, intellectuals, business leaders, and others who favour classical liberalism...
. He has published articles in the libertarian free-market Cato Journal
Cato Journal
The Cato Journal is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by the Washington, D.C.-based, libertarian think-tank, the Cato Institute, and features articles discussing politics and economy.According to the Cato Institute website, the journal is a...
. On 28 May 2008, Klaus gave the keynote address at an annual dinner hosted by the Competitive Enterprise Institute
Competitive Enterprise Institute
The Competitive Enterprise Institute is a non-profit think tank founded on March 9, 1984 in Washington, D.C. by lobbyist Fred L. Smith, Jr to advance economic liberty and fight over-regulation by big government...
, a free market advocacy group in Washington, D.C., and received its Julian L. Simon Memorial Award.
Klaus became the foreign member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts
Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts
The Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts is the most prominent academic institution in Serbia today...
in 2009.
Chilean pen incident
In April 2011, Klaus was seen taking a pen during a state visit to Chile. The "theft", caught on television cameras, was widely reported around the world and has been dubbed an "international event" causing a "diplomatic stir".Australian Parliament House incident
In July 2011, during a visit to CanberraCanberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
, the national capital of Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, Klaus declined to pass through electronic security at the Australian Parliament House in order to be interviewed by ABC Television
ABC Television
ABC Television is a service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation launched in 1956. As a public broadcasting broadcaster, the ABC provides four non-commercial channels within Australia, and a partially advertising-funded satellite channel overseas....
at its studio
Television studio
A television studio is an installation in which a video productions take place, either for the recording of live television to video tape, or for the acquisition of raw footage for post-production. The design of a studio is similar to, and derived from, movie studios, with a few amendments for the...
. Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
staff tried to convince security staff to allow the President to bypass security but they declined the request, and Klaus left the building. Klaus commented that it was not an issue of passing through the electronic security system, rather of handling the whole situation. Firstly, when he and his entourage arrived on time, nobody was expecting him. After waiting for ten minutes in front of the building, a worker of the ABC Television
ABC Television
ABC Television is a service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation launched in 1956. As a public broadcasting broadcaster, the ABC provides four non-commercial channels within Australia, and a partially advertising-funded satellite channel overseas....
invited him in, where he was left "among perhaps as many as hundred school children". After a few minutes he found out that the whole group was waiting for a security clearance. Klaus refused to waste more time waiting in line behind the school children and offered ABC Television to conduct the interview in his hotel, which ABC declined as it was already set up for the interview in the Parliament House studio. Klaus' approach was further backed up by the president’s office head of protocol, Jindřich Forejt, who described his boss’ Australian treatment as “incredible.” Czech lifestyle commentator Ladislav Špaček further commented that "it is absolutely out of place to check a head of state; it is disrespectful. I am not at all surprised that Klaus turned around and went off. He should not be there trying to agree with some operative that he is not a terrorist."
Resignation
On 7 December 2008, Bém stood against Topolánek for the post of ODS chairman at the ODS party congress. Bém lost by 284 votes to 162, and was replaced as first deputy chairman for the ODS by David Vodrážka. Klaus had resigned as honorary ODS chairman the day before.Personal life
Václav Klaus is married to Livia Rosamunda KlausováLivia Klausová
Livia Klausová née Mištinová is a Czech economist and the First Lady of the Czech Republic since 2003. An alumna of the University of Economics, Prague, she married fellow economist Václav Klaus in 1968. The couple have two sons, Václav and Jan , and five grandchildren...
, a Slovak
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
economist. They have two sons, Václav (a private secondary school headmaster) and Jan (an economist), and five grandchildren.
It has been claimed that Klaus has had several extramarital affairs. The first, in 1991, was with Eva Svobodová.
In summer 2002, Klaus was photographed by a tabloid as having a "special relationship" with 24-year-old economy student Klára Lohniská. One paper claimed he spent the night after his second presidential inauguration (7 March 2008) with 25-year-old Petra Bednářová.
State Awards
| Country | Awards | Date |
|---|---|---|
 Austria |
Decoration for Services to the Republic of Austria Decoration for Services to the Republic of Austria The Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria is a state decoration of the Republic of Austria... Grand Star |
5/2009 |
 Lithuania |
Order of Vytautas the Great Order of Vytautas the Great The Order of Vytautas the Great is the Lithuanian Presidential Award. It may be conferred on the heads of Lithuania and foreign states, as well as their citizens, for distinguished services to the State of Lithuania.-History:... Grand Cross |
4/2009 |
 Poland |
Order of the White Eagle | 7/2007 |
 Russia |
Medal of Pushkin | 12/2007 |
 Kingdom of Saxony |
Saxon Merit Cross | 5/2008 |
 Spain |
Order of Isabella the Catholic 1st Class | 9/2004 |
External links
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFoYkWulKOI
- https://www.ufm.edu/cms/es/honorary-doctoral-degreesHonorary Doctoral Degrees, Universidad Francisco MarroquínUniversidad Francisco MarroquínUniversidad Francisco Marroquín is a private, secular, university in Guatemala City, Guatemala. According to the school's website, "the mission of Universidad Francisco Marroquín is to teach and disseminate the ethical, legal and economic principles of a sociey of free and responsible persons."...
] - Official personal pages – English section
- Biography and selected speeches at the President's office
- Luboš MotlLuboš MotlLuboš Motl is a Czech theoretical physicist who keeps a blog commenting on physics, global warming and politics. His scientific research concentrated on string theory, of which he has been a passionate defender. He proposed Matrix string theory in 1997.Motl was born in Plzeň, Czech Republic...
: Klaus in an interview on Global Warming with Hospodářské novinyHospodarske novinyHospodarske noviny is name of two newspapers, written without diacritics:* Hospodářské noviny in the Czech Republic* Hospodárske noviny in Slovakia...
, a Czech economics daily; February 2007 - Facing a Challenge of the Current Era: Environmentalism, a Cato InstituteCato InstituteThe Cato Institute is a libertarian think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1977 by Edward H. Crane, who remains president and CEO, and Charles Koch, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of the conglomerate Koch Industries, Inc., the largest privately held...
policy forum featuring Václav Klaus - The EconomistThe EconomistThe Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843...
: Grumpy Uncle Vaclav, 4.12.2008 - The New American: Czech Pres. Vaclav Klaus Enrages Eurocrats, 30.12.2008
- Statement of President Václav Klaus on the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty – Official personal pages
|-
|-
|-