Hayek’s Conference at the University of Richmond: Hayek and My Life

English Pages, 12. 4. 2013

Many thanks for giving me a chance to address this distinguished audience. This is my first visit to the University of Richmond and, if I am not mistaken, my first stay in the state of Virginia as well. Some of you may know that I am enjoying the first days and weeks of my post-political life. A month ago, I completed my second term as the President of the Czech Republic and it means – with a very high degree of probability – an end to my political carrier, which started in the moment of the fall of communism in November 1989.

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BBC World Service: Václav Klaus reflecting on Margaret Thatcher

English Pages, 9. 4. 2013

Former Czech President Václav Klaus reflecting on former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher "She was one of the greatest politicians of our time, in the Czech republic she was our hero."

Audio inside.

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The Václav Klaus Institute's Public Statement: Cyprus crisis and its unprecedented solution

English Pages, 21. 3. 2013

Three days after the entry of Cyprus into the European Union – on May 3, 2004 – the delegation of the President of the Czech Republic arrived on a state visit to Cyprus and was met with euphoria, facing declarations and slogans such as “We are in Europe”, “We have entered Europe”. We tried to explain, they were “only” in the European Union, because one can enter a man-made institution, such as the EU, but not a continent. It can’t be “entered”.

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Notes for Cato speech

English Pages, 11. 3. 2013

Many thanks for organizing this gathering. I am glad to be again here, in Cato, where I have many friends. I highly appreciate the role Cato Institute has played in the last decades in defending freedom, free markets, and limited government. This is a special moment for me. On Thursday, my second term as President of the Czech Republic expired and on Friday, the new President was inaugurated.

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Opening Statement of the President at the Farewell Meeting with the Heads of Diplomatic Missions

English Pages, 21. 2. 2013

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, let me welcome you here most sincerely. Thank you for joining us at this small ceremony at the end of my presidential mandate. It has been an honor for me to serve as the President of the Czech Republic for the past ten years. I can assure you that my meetings with you and your predecessors belonged to my pleasant duties, and not only duties, I learned a lot as well. It is a memory I will always cherish.

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Economic growth is the best promoter of social and environmental goals

English Pages, 27. 1. 2013

President Piñera, dear colleagues, thank you for the invitation to attend this important gathering and for its perfect organization. Just the weather could be better, less hot. Some of us attended the previous EU-Latin America summit in Madrid two years ago and found it productive and stimulating. It is of utmost importance to be confronted with different views, perspectives, experiences.

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Remarks of the President at the Wiener Com.Sult Congress: Europe Has Not Yet Made the Necessary Change

English Pages, 22. 1. 2013

Many thanks for inviting me to attend your congress once again and for giving me a chance to speak here this morning. I remember being here two years ago with my criticism of the fact that the European political class did not face up to the seriousness of the current European problem. In the past two years, nothing has changed in this respect, to my great regret. We still continue marching in the same blind alley.

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Remarks at the launching of the book “La Integración Europea Sin Ilusiones” in Madrid

English Pages, 3. 12. 2012

Many thanks for organizing this gathering and for making it possible for me to introduce my book “La Integración Europea Sin Ilusiones” (Editorial Club Universitario, 2012) to the potential Spanish readers. The book was originally published in Prague last December in Czech language, in Bulgaria in February, in Italy in August, the English version was launched in New York in September and in London just a week ago, and the German edition was presented two weeks ago in Vienna.

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ASEM speech: The lasting crisis in Europe and the continuing growth in Asia: Why is it so?

English Pages, 5. 11. 2012

Mr Chairman, dear colleagues, I would like to thank the organizers of the summit for giving many of us the possibility to for the first time visit Laos. I am convinced this meeting will make Laos the focus of world attention in these two days and I am sure the country deserves it. I have been looking forward to this meeting because ASEM has become an important platform for dialogue between heads of states and governments of European and Asian countries.

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President's address on the Czech National Day

English Pages, 28. 10. 2012

Distinguished guests, Ladies and gentlemen, we have gathered here in these historical premises again to commemorate that the modern Czech state is one year older. Before long, a hundred years will pass from the establishment of our republic. Then we shall certainly ask the following questions: What has this – historically speaking – relatively brief episode, interrupted by the Nazi Protectorate and subsequently by our subjection to the Soviet Union, brought to our nation; And what have we who have lived in this era brought to our state.

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