photo: zdarskydenik.cz
Tuesday's commentary by Ivo Strejček
Regular readers of the Václav Klaus Institute website will not need to be reminded that we have been adding a section entitled "30 years of EU controversy" for many weeks. Every day, we publish texts by Václav Klaus in particular, proving that his and our interest in everything that happens in the European Union is a long-term, careful and analytical interest. We set up this column a few months before the European Parliament elections in order to present our continuity of opinion on the content and form of the European - now overwhelmingly unifying - process. Although many readers have found their way to our website, I would like to reiterate and highlight the text in today's glossary published on the IVK website on 20 June 2024 I consider this speech a "must read" for anyone who is even slightly interested in politics (not only foreign, not only European). That is why I am recalling it.
I will not forget the speech of Czech President Václav Klaus before the plenary assembly of the European Parliament in Brussels. I was one of the Czech MEPs who had the opportunity to listen to the President's speech. Even with this experience, I would like to remind you that this speech is certainly the most important, most sovereign and most courageous speech by any Czech politician on the floor of any European institution in our political history. It is a message with an extremely serious content, certainly comparable - if not more significant - to the legendary speech of British Prime Minister Thatcher in Bruges (Bruges Speech, 1988).
Although 15 years have passed since Václav Klaus addressed the European Parliament, his timeless ideas are still relevant today. Let us recall a few key ones:
- We [the Czech Republic] feel our share of responsibility for developments in the European Union ... [also because] for us, joining the EU had and has no alternative;
- The methods and forms of European integration, on the other hand, have a number of possible and legitimate variants. To regard the status quo ... as a dogma forever beyond criticism is a fallacy that is becoming more and more widespread, even though it is completely at odds with both rational thinking and the entire history of the development of European civilisation, which spans more than two millennia;
- The institutional arrangement is not an end in itself, but a means to achieve the real ends: human freedom and an economic arrangement based on a market economy;
- Today's EU economic system is one of market repression and a continuous strengthening of central control of the economy;
- The current system of decision-making in the EU is not a history-tested classical parliamentary democracy;
- There is a growing distance between the citizens and the Union's representatives, referred to in terms such as democratic deficit, loss of democratic accountability, decision-making by the unelected but not the elected, bureaucratisation of decision-making, etc;
- To continue with this form of integration would be to jeopardise all the positive things that have been achieved in Europe over half a century.
These are just a few ideas, admittedly key and axial, on which Václav Klaus' speech was built. And among "advanced democrats" (as Western European MPs in particular like to call themselves) they caused a complete uproar and disaster!
Why? Talking about the market economy is not allowed in the European Parliament! It is forbidden to criticise the unification concept of "ever closer union"! No one is allowed to question the "maturity of democratic procedures in the Union"! On the contrary, the suppression of the role of nation states under the slogan of a new multicultural and multinational European civil society (which Václav Klaus criticised) is desirable in the European institutions!
The "green" left-wing radicals and revolutionaries Daniel Cohn-Bendit (nicknamed "Red Danny"), the Trotskyist Jo Leinen, the fanatical "European" Guy Verhofstadt and with them dozens and dozens of other "democratic giants" initially stared in disbelief, what a "man from somewhere in Eastern Europe" was doing, then they started pounding on the benches, shouting at Václav Klaus, running helplessly down the aisles between the seats, only to return to their chairs and disparage the speaker with aggressive shouts. Václav Klaus behaved admirably - when the shouting was so loud that he could not be heard, he interrupted his speech and calmly watched the "mob of European democrats" until the hall calmed down at least a little. Then he went on. I sat next to the British Conservative, a convinced 'Thatcherite', David Sumberg. After Václav Klaus's speech, he tapped me enthusiastically on the shoulder and said: "I can retire now. This speech was worth my years in the European Parliament!"
Why, among other things, am I recalling Václav Klaus's crucial speech in Brussels? It is about its timelessness, about the relevance of Klaus's words, which continue to prove their truth even after fifteen years.
Let us ask and answer. Has the European Union changed for the better since Klaus's words fifteen years ago? Has the degree of democratic control over European institutions increased? Has the European Union returned (at least a little) to a market economy? Are European institutions producing fewer legislative regulations? Are national economies less constrained by Brussels rule?
No, the unification process is moving ever faster down the path of "ever-closer Union", we are increasingly tied down by destructive Green Deal-type regimentation. We are under ever greater pressure from mass migration, which is rapidly changing the demographic face of a significant part of Europe and so suits the 'European' policy of multiculturalism.
So why today recall the solemn and rousing words of Václav Klaus in Brussels fifteen years ago?
The elections to the European Parliament are over. They have not brought any change for the better. No right has been strengthened, as we hear from various parties, because no real authentic pro-market - nation-state based and nation-state claiming - right stood for the European Parliament (and therefore could not succeed). So it is worth reiterating our long-standing view: do not expect any change for the better to come from the European institutions. Change in Brussels can only happen if the voters in the nation states revolt. Change can only come from below - from the voters of nation states and in national parliamentary elections. If the voice of the electorate is strong, Brussels is certain to be 'splashed'.
Ivo Strejček, 25. 6. 2024
https://www.institutvk.cz/clanky/2805.html
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