Václav Klaus: Notes for Munich 2025

English Pages, 13. 2. 2025

The organizer of this gathering Shafik Gabr, the friend of many of us, sent me in advance two difficult but important questions which should be addressed here this evening: Will the war on Ukraine territory end in 2025 and what will be the impact of Trump’s tariff policy on global trade?

I am not an omniscient oracle, so I am able to present only my modest, cautiously formulated answers.

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Notes for the Golden Arrow 2025 Award Ceremony

English Pages, 28. 1. 2025

It is an honour and at a same time, especially in this case, a pleasure to be chosen to introduce this year’s Golden Arrow laureate Boris Tadić. This award has been given in the last two decades to many individuals in various spheres of life for their outstanding achievements. In my field, in politics, this award was given to such extraordinary world personalities as Frederik de Klerk, former President of South Africa, or Shimon Peres, President of Israel. And Boris Tadić no doubt belongs to this group.

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Notes for Vienna: “Building Bridges in a Divided Society”

English Pages, 24. 1. 2025

Many thanks for giving me the floor, regardless of the fact that I am not an expert on building bridges. Therefore, just a tentative note. An economist, turned politician, should be asked to speak about other topics, in which he has comparative advantage.

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Václav Klaus at the 22nd Vienna Congress: Remarks at the Speakers’ Reception

English Pages, 26. 1. 2025

It’s a great pleasure for me to be here in Vienna, in the more than beautiful Hotel Imperial, reminding us of the good old days, of the world of yesterday (die Welt von Gestern).

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Notes for Davos: “Expecting the Unexpected”

English Pages, 20. 1. 2025

Many thanks for the invitation to this already traditional dinner organized by Shafik Gabr on the occasion of the Davos Economic Forum. The participants of this dinner are either regular guests of the Davos Forum or friends of Shafik. I belong to the second group. After welcoming me at his Davos Forum seventeen times (for the first time in January 1990), Mr. Schwab started to consider me – some fifteen years ago – as one of his fundamental ideological opponents. He was right. I am a fundamental opponent of Mr. Schwab and his way of thinking about our world.

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Václav Klaus at the National Day Reception of the Kingdom of Thailand

English Pages, 4. 12. 2024

Thailand is for us a distant and exotic country, much different in its culture, history, way of life and type of nature, but it is a country with which we have had diplomatic relations for 50 years and important economic and political relations. 

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Notes for Montenegro: A World Order Under Threat. Is There Any Chance to Change It?

English Pages, 25. 11. 2024

It is great to see good old friends after such a long time and to get a chance to discuss with them the topics we all consider crucial and fundamental. We may have different views on some of them, but the friendly and free exchange of views is absolutely irreplaceable. There is no alternative to it.

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20 Years in the EU: Czech and Polish in Many Respects Differing Experience

English Pages, 14. 11. 2024

Many thanks for inviting me to Poznaň, to this year’s Poznaň Economic Congress, and for offering me the opportunity to speak here. I am really pleased to be here. This is not my first visit to your city. I was here in June 2006 speaking – together with my good friend, the great Polish politician, the tragically deceased President Lech Kaczyński – at a public rally devoted to the 50th anniversary of the October 1956 uprising, which is connected with your city. This event shouldn’t be forgotten. My generation in the Czech Republic still remembers what the famous Polish “październik“ was. We were following this historic event in Poland with enormous interest. Some people started even to learn Polish at that moment.

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Václav Klaus: A Few Remarks on the Nation-State Sovereignty and the Concept of Europe of Nations

English Pages, 25. 10. 2024

Many thanks for the invitation. Let me start by confessing that I am always glad to have the opportunity to come to Budapest and Hungary. I feel I am in a free country. Thank you for selecting such an excellent topic for my speech at the conference: “The Importance of the nation-state sovereignty and the concept of Europe of nations”. My thanks are not just a courtesy statement. Such a title can’t be raised in any other European country these days, only in Hungary.

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The Presentation of the Former President of the Czech Republic Václav Klaus at the Chinese Embassy on the Occasion of the 75th Anniversary of the Founding of the People’s Republic of China

English Pages, 27. 9. 2024

Dear Mr. Ambassador, Ambassadors, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,

let me start by congratulating all of you to the 75^th anniversary of the founding of the People´s Republic of China. Mr. Ambassador, we have always been following the developments of your country with a great interest. We know that your country has made – in these three quarters of a century – an enormous progress. Especially in the last three or four decades the Chinese economy and the living standards of its 14 hundred million people have made an – in the world history unprecedented – jump forward.

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