I’m surprised that there are only two posts about Václav Klaus’s speech in the European Parliament. I have finally seen the complete record, so I’m going to be the third.
First of all, I would like to explain that Václav Klaus is not the President of the European Council or the Council of the European Union. (Don’t confuse it - there are three different institutions with very similar names: European Council, Council of the European Union and Council of Europe.) President of the Council of the European Union is Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek. But I understand that it may not be clear to everybody, as both Klaus and Topolánek represent Czech Republic. (Do you know who the President of Germany is? Or Prime Minister of France? Do they even have one?)
And now about the speech. You can see it at EP’s web in language you choose. It has three parts - Opening word of Hans-Gert Pöttering, speech itself and Pöttering’s closing word. I recommend you to watch all three parts, not only the speech. But if EP’s player doesn’t work for you, Klaus’s speech (without Pöttering) is also available on YouTube translated to English. And you can read it at Klaus’s web in Czech, English, German and French.
I agree with Václav Klaus’s words. This is what i find the most important: “(…) At this forum, I would like to repeat once again clearly and loudly – for those of you who don’t know it or do not want to know – my conviction, that for us there was and there is no alternative to the European Union membership and that in our country there is no relevant political force that could or would want to undermine this position. We have been therefore really touched by the repeated and growing attacks we have been facing; attacks based on the unfounded assumption that the Czechs are searching for some other integration project than the one they became members of five years ago. This is not true. (…)” He is not against the EU itself. But he’s still labeled as “eurosceptic”…
Please, watch the full version. And then compare it with news coverage from AP, for example. Did you hear something about Soviet Union? Can you find it somewhere in the text? It reminds me of the December “incident” at Prague Castle. Again, Vaclav Klaus was accused of comparing EU to SU without mentioning it. It’s also quite interesting to watch MEPs’ reactions. They look around the room like they are controlling their colleagues… But I think that the reactions weren’t so negative as media told us. And you can hear the disagreement when Hans-Gert Pöttering is speaking as well. Here are some other reactions from MEPs: Nigel Farage not-so-negative about Václav Klaus and Godfrey Bloom not-so-positive about Hans-Gert Pöttering.
And one hint for future speeches in EP. Include name of our former President, Václav Havel. They will applaud you for free.
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(About title: It’s what Piotr Kaczynski from CEPS said about Václav Klaus during the launch event of Th!nk about it.)
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