In November 2022, in an immediate reaction to the speech of Mrs. Pekarova Adamová at the TOP 09 conference, I called my Friday gloss "Let's not mess with the euro". It is still valid. I keep coming up with new arguments, but it is futile; people like our Speaker of the House of Commons and our Minister for Europe do not read. They do not listen to arguments. They do not care about arguments, they only care about their political careers. That is why I will repeat the opening sentences of my gloss at the time.
"The Czech economy has many weaknesses and many problems, but it has one advantage, which is our own currency. It reflects the strength of the Czech economy, and that is how it should be. It does not reflect the strength of the average economies of Greece and Germany or Portugal and the Netherlands, as it would if we adopted the euro. More than two decades of the so-called common European currency, the euro, have shown that it suits some people and not others, that it is destroying Greece (and causing its permanent crisis), and that it is making Germany the world's number one export economy.
It does not suit Portugal, for example, but neither does it suit Italy. Much has changed since the euro was launched 23 years ago, when Czech GDP per capita was lower than Portugal's and significantly lower than Italy's. We have long since surpassed Portugal and will even catch up with Italy in 2021. Is it the extraordinary diligence and ability of the Czechs compared to the inhabitants of these countries? Is it "merely" catching up to where we were before communism in 1948? Is it the extraordinary success and skill of our recent governments (Sobotka's, Babiš's, Fial's), which were so much better than other European governments? Or do we have a better economic system? That is, a better market and a better state thanks to better laws and better civil servants? Or do we have a different, i.e. more advantageous, economic structure?
None of this can be true. After all, our governments have been terribly bad, which is the majority feeling of the Czechs, which I fully share. Moreover, all these things are difficult to measure and prove statistically. But one thing is indisputable - we do not have the euro, while these countries do. This is what most sensible people in our country subconsciously feel, what a few of our sensible politicians feel, what politicians of the populist type who are not responsible and therefore feel they can afford everything do not feel."
It's a year and a quarter old gloss up to here. We as IVK published more arguments on this topic a month ago, in response to President Paul's New Year's speech, in which he unexpectedly pulled out the euro card. It was called "IVK's opinion on the irresponsible campaign to leave the Czech crown and adopt the euro" (dated 4. 1. 2024). For a month it seemed that the situation had calmed down, that things would not be so hot.
But it only lasted one month. In the first days of February, Dvořák, the minister for Europe (the others are probably against Europe?), took another irresponsible step by appointing a euro commissioner without any consultation in the government and with the prime minister. It caused a storm. I will quote a question I received from one of our newspapers and my answer to it.
"What do you think about the current government row over the appointment of a euro commissioner and what would you do in your role as Prime Minister with a minister who appoints such a commissioner without the government's knowledge?
Today's five-coalition government is an unmanaged government, a mere collection of ministers from five parties, without any conceptual leadership and management. They are united only by their desire to govern and "rule" until the elections. It was a fatal mistake to create the post of Minister for Europe (we had this government post briefly in the Miloš Zeman government), and it was equally fatal to entrust this post to Mr Dvořák. The Prime Minister should never have allowed this to happen."
In the meantime, the "government" got really angry and the activist minister Dvořák had to withdraw "his" proxy again.
Getting rid of your crown (which we did not do either during the Protectorate or after the Soviet occupation in 1968) is a serious matter. Currency is a symbol of statehood. The debate should therefore be about the economic consequences of this move, but also about whether we care about our own statehood. Pekarová Adamová and Dvořák probably do not. Then they should say so directly and not hide it behind a debate on the euro, for which they are not qualified.
I ended my last gloss on this topic with the sentence, "So far we have been pragmatic on this key issue, the Euronaists have not won. We shouldn't mess it up right now." I feel that we are spoiling it a lot right now.
Václav Klaus, 8 February 2024
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