Václav Klaus

Václav Klaus
President of the Czech Republic
Incumbent
Assumed office  7 March 2003
Prime Minister	Vladimír Špidla Stanislav Gross Jiří Paroubek Mirek Topolánek
Preceded by	Václav Havel
Chairman of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic
In office 17 July 1998 – 20 June 2002
Prime Minister	Miloš Zeman
Preceded by	Miloš Zeman
Succeeded by	Lubomír Zaorálek
Prime Minister of the Czech Republic
In office 1 January 1993 – 17 December 1997
President	Václav Havel
Preceded by	Office created
Succeeded by	Josef Tošovský
Prime Minister of the Czech Republic within Czechoslovakia
In office 2 July 1992 – 31 December 1992
President	Václav Havel
Preceded by	Petr Pithart
Succeeded by	Office abolished
Minister of Finance of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic
In office 10 December 1989 – 2 July 1992
Prime Minister	Marián Čalfa
Preceded by	Jan Stejskal
Succeeded by	Jan Klak (Federal) Ivan Kočárník (Czech Rep., in Klaus's govt)
Born	19 June 1941 (1941-06-19) (age 68) Prague, Bohemia and Moravia
Political party	Civic Democratic Party
Spouse	Livia Klausová
Children	2 sons
Alma mater	University of Economics, Prague
Occupation	Economist
Website	www.klaus.cz

Václav Klaus (pronounced [ˈvaːtslaf ˈklaʊ̯s]; born 19 June 1941) is the second President of the Czech Republic (since 2003, reelected 2008) and a former Prime Minister of the Czech Republic (1992–1997). An economist by trade, he is co-founder of the Civic Democratic Party, the major Czech centre-right party.^[1][2] Together with Václav Havel and his Social Democrat counterpart Miloš Zeman, he is recognised as one of the three most important Czech politicians of the 1990s and the last of them to remain active.

Biography

Klaus grew up in the upper-middle class residential Vinohrady neighborhood of Prague and graduated from the University of Economics, Prague in 1963; he also spent some time at universities in Italy (1966) and Cornell University in the United States (1969).

During the Prague Spring he published articles on economics in the pro-reform, non-communist magazine Tvář (The Face) and the leading weekly Literární noviny. He then pursued a postgraduate academic career at the (state) Institute of Economics of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, which he left (by his account, being forced out for political reasons) in 1970. He subsequently, from 1971 to 1986, held various positions at the Czechoslovak State Bank. In 1987 Klaus joined the Prognostics Institute of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences.

In 1995, as Prime Minister, he applied for and was awarded the degree of Professor of Finance from his alma mater, so he is sometimes addressed as "Mr. Professor" as it is customary in the Czech Republic. Given his lack of publications in refereed journals this award was the subject of some controversy but it was in line with the less strict criteria of that time, which were set up to enable the decommunization of the universities. As the president, Klaus occasionally teaches a seminar course in economics at the University of Economics. The course focuses on Klaus' free-market concerns.

Since 1990, Václav Klaus has received nearly 50 honorary degrees and published over 20 books on various social, political, and economics subjects which are overwhelmingly collections of his own articles and speeches; the most recent of these are five yearbooks of his comments as president. Klaus is a member of the Mont Pelerin Society. He has published articles in the libertarian free-market Cato Journal. On May 28, 2008, Klaus gave the keynote address at an annual dinner hosted by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a free market advocacy group in Washington, D.C., and received its Julian L. Simon Memorial Award.

Václav Klaus is married to Livia Rosamunda Klausová, a Slovak economist. During his Premiership she was appointed to the board of the state-controlled bank Česká spořitelna. They have two sons, Václav (a private secondary school headmaster) and Jan (economist), and five grandchildren.^[1]

It has been claimed that Klaus has had several extramarital affairs. The first, in 1991, was with Eva Svobodová.^[3] In summer 2002 Klaus was photographed by a tabloid as having a "special relationship" with 24 year old economy student Klára Lohniská; this was treated by both the press and the public with remarkable sympathy.^[4] One paper claimed he spent the night after his second presidential inauguration (7 March 2008) with 25 year old Petra Bednářová.^[5]

In youth, Klaus used to play basketball and minor-league volleyball; before his recent hip operation he was an active tennis player and skier.^[1]

Klaus the economist

His defining issue since 1990 has been a vocal enthusiasm for the free market economy and as exemplified by Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman and practised by Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, together with his stated belief in Adam Smith's "Invisible Hand". Klaus was the principal shaper of the Czechoslovak economic transformation. His critics later on pointed out that during his premiership he had dismissed the importance of the rule of law (in particular battling corruption), largely ignored the enforcement of property rights on the stock market, and that his pet project, the voucher privatization, directly failed in his primary objective that it create Czech-owned businesses and a wide class of shareowners. In fact, the voucher privatization has become viewed as a defining moment in the expansion of corruption in the country.

Rise to Premiership

Václav Klaus entered politics during the Velvet Revolution in 1989. He came to the offices of the Civic Forum (OF) during the second week of the Revolution along with other economists who offered their technical expertise to the OF. The dissidents who led the OF and had actively opposed the regime generally lacked the training in economics offered by Klaus and his colleagues. He became Czechoslovakia's Minister of Finance in the "government of national unity" on 10th December 1989. Václav Havel wrote in his 2006 memoirs that after the June 1990 free elections, OF was dissatisfied with Klaus's growing populism and attempts to concentrate power in his own hands and tried to shunt him off to the national bank; however he prevailed and kept the ministry. In October 1990, Klaus was elected the OF's chairman by regional deputies despite the wish of the Prague dissidents who created it, prefiguring its split and founding of other political parties. Jiri Dientsbier, the Foreign Minister and leader of the OF deposed by Klaus, has said "While we were concerned with running the country, Klaus was concerned with buildng his own power through attacking us as 'elitist'. This is a tactic he has continued to this day." "In April 1991 Klaus founded and became the chairman of the Civic Democratic Party (Občanská demokratická strana, ODS), currently the largest and most right-wing Czech party.

In June 1992, the ODS won the elections in the Czech Republic; but the winner in Slovakia was Vladimír Mečiar's nationalistic Movement for a Democratic Slovakia. It soon became apparent that Slovak demands for increased sovereignty were incompatible with the limited "viable federation" supported by the Czechs; both leaders assumed the premiership in their respective polities and quickly agreed, without a referendum, on a smooth division of Czechoslovakia and its assets under a caretaker federal government, later dubbed the Velvet Divorce. Having led the dissolution of a sovereign state without a referendum, Klaus' recent demands for EU referendums have been viewed as more tactical than principled.

Scandals

Klaus continued as Prime Minister after the the 1996 election, but the ODS's win was much narrower and his government was plagued by instability, serious economic problems and mounting accusations of serious corruption. He was forced to resign^[6] in November 1997 after a government crisis caused by an ODS funding scandal, an event quickly dubbed "Sarajevo Assassination" (sarajevský atentát, in analogy with the one that started the First World War) by his sympathisers, because the calls for him to resign occurred during his visit of Sarajevo. He has consistently refused to accept responsibility for or discuss any of the corruption scandals which arose within his party and under his government.^[7]

Then President Václav Havel publicly referred to Klaus' economic policies as "gangster capitalism" and blamed the prime minister for corruption surrounding his policy of voucher privatization and his cadre of close allies such as the dentist, politician, and entrepreneur Miroslav Macek or StB agent Václav Junek.

Defeats

Klaus, stunned for a moment by his downfall quickly rallied forces to fight. At the mid-December IX. congress, he was confirmed as chairman by 227 votes of 312 delegates; the defeated faction left ODS and in early 1998 established a new party named Freedom Union (Unie svobody, US) with president Václav Havel's unconcealed sympathies.

The ODS lost the June premature election to Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD). Still, the results (unlike any following) would have allowed both of them to achieve a safe majority with smaller center parties. However US chairman Jan Ruml refused to support ČSSD on principle, and there was too much distrust of "traitors" in ODS. To general surprise, Klaus struck an "opposition agreement" (opoziční smlouva) with ČSSD chairman Miloš Zeman, his traditional foe though both also had much mutual respect: ODS tolerated Zeman's minority government in exchange for a share of control of positions and privatization revenue , including the Speaker of Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic for Klaus, with hints of possible prolongation after turnaround in future election.^[8] The Opposition Agreement led to massive pubic demonstrations, particularly against the attempt to make Czech Television more subsevient to the main parties. This, in-turn, caused Zemen to announce that he would not stand again for the post of prime minister.

ODS went to the elections of June 2002 relying on Klaus's image: pre-recorded mass phone calls (used for the first time in Czech campaigns and rather criticised) about "mobilisation" against left-wing danger or his huge billboard at the former site of Stalin's Monument. But in a TV debate as well as at the polls he was defeated by ČSSD's new leader Vladimír Špidla, who had explicitly rejected the opposition agreement, which had become to be perceived as embodiment of stagnation, corruption and attempts to duopolise power despite the constitutional proportional representation. In the aftermath of the election Klaus approached Špidla's opponent in the CSSD Stanislav Gross and offered his a renewed Opposition Agreement if he deposed Špidla. Eventualy Špidla created a left-center coalition. After long hesitation, and having suffered a further substantial loss in the October Senate elections, Klaus bowed to mounting pressure and didn't run for re-election at the December congress (which declared him honorary chairman).^[9] Against his wishes he was succeeded by Mirek Topolánek,^[10] with whom his relation remain strained.

Presidency

Standard of the President of the Czech Republic

For more details on election procedure and strategies, see President of the Czech Republic #Electoral procedure.

Having lost two general elections in a row, Klaus' hold on the ODS appeared to become weaker, and he announced his intention to step down from the leadership and run for President to succeed Václav Havel, who had been one of his greatest political opponents since the division of Czechoslovakia. This was taken by many to be a graceful way of retiring. However the governing coalition, buffeted especially by feuds within ČSSD, was unable to agree on a common candidate to oppose him.

Klaus was elected President of the Czech Republic by secret ballot of the parliament on 28 February, 2003 after two failed elections earlier in the month, in the third round of the election (both chambers vote on two top candidates jointly). He won with a narrow majority of 142 votes out of 281, with, notably, support of the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia whose parliament club he visited before the election. While refusing to actually acknowledge their votes, the Communists said that on the eve of the 2003 invasion of Iraq and Czech accession to the European Union, a President sceptical to both was a good balance to the government's "euro-fanaticism".^[11] However, it is clear that Klaus made a private deal with the communists which included the end of their exclusion from political events held by the President. Klaus has honoured this and consults the Communists' leader regularly. In addition, some members of smaller parties voted against their parties' policy in the secret ballot in return for unspecified benefits. This opaque means of elections became more open in the scandals surrounding Klaus' reelection.

Relationship with communists

Having won his presidential election with the support of the communist votes, Klaus has modified his previously strident rhetoric to say that he considers himself to be a "non-communist" but not an anti-communist. He rejects this label as a cheap and superficial posturing, although he has during the previous campaigns warned against the traditional "red scare" against ČSSD. This is seen by some as a fulfilment of his part of the secret deal to secure the presidency. Controversially, he invited the communist party to a reception in the Prague Castle, where they had not been allowed to enter throughout the 13 years of Havel's presidency. Nevertheless, in 2005 and 2006 Klaus repeatedly stated that he would refuse to appoint a cabinet which depended on communist support either directly or indirectly - refusing to explain why they could be relied upon for his election but not to support the government.

Václav Klaus in 2005

A contested issue is also his relation to communism in the country's past. Since 2003 Klaus has been publishing articles praising the primary role of "the grey zone" as a positive influence during the communist regime, while downplaying the importance of the small minority of dissidents like Havel because of their "haughtiness." This is taken by some as an attempt to denigrate the part of the Czech history which he cannot claim to have been a part of. Certainly this attitude towards the dissidents was not apparent in November 1989 when offered them his support in the second week of the Velvet Revolution. A similar approach can be seen in his changing views on Masaryk.

Although Klaus regularly criticized Havel for having used his power to veto laws and promised restrain, he does so rather more frequently than him - generally labelling vetoed bills as illiberal, 'dangerous' and a threat to the country. His 'libertarian' approach does not seem to extend to the homosexuals. ^[12] Among the vetoed bills was also the registered partnership act; Klaus believed that special laws for married couples were designed with a narrow goal which could not be extended to homosexuals. In his public statement he described the bill as being "dangerous", a threat to the fabric of Czech society and representing militant "homosexualism." His veto was overturned by the Parliament in March 2006, thus making the Czech Republic the first post-communist country to grant legal recognition to same-sex partnerships. He also vetoed the Anti-Discrimination Law passed by parliament in 2008, saying it's a dangerous threat to personal freedoms as well as the bill implementing EU's Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals policy claiming it to be burdensome for private enterprises.

Other measures vetoed have included the European Arrest Warrant (he claimed extradition of Czech citizens to other countries should never be allowed) and joining the International Criminal Court (he claimed it as destroying national sovereignty).

Anti-European Union beliefs

Klaus' euroscepticism - perhaps being joined by his recent skepticism of the existence of anthropogenic climate change - is the defining policy position of his presidency. He claimed that accession to the Union represented a significant reduction of Czech sovereignty and he chose not to give any recommendation before the 2003 accession referendum (77% voted yes).

Klaus' Eurosceptic activism has involved writing many articles and giving many speeches against any sharing of sovereignty with the EU. He secured the publication of a work by the Irish Eurosceptic Anthony Coughlan. In 2005 Klaus called for the EU to be "scrapped" and replaced by a free-trade area to be called the "Organisation of European States." He also attacked the EU as undermining freedom and being as big a threat as the Soviet Union.

In 2005 he remarked to a group of visiting U.S. politicians that the EU was a "failed and bankrupt entity."

Václav Klaus with Boris Tadić during the state visit to Serbia in 2008.

In October 2008 he said that the EU is controlled by big powers as they controlled Europe in 1938.

In November 2008 while on a state visit to Ireland, he held a joint press conference with Declan Ganley, head of Libertas, which successfully campaigned for a No vote in the referendum the Lisbon Treaty. Irish ministers called this "an inappropriate intervention", "unusual and disappointing".^[13]

Another incident happened on December 5, 2008. Members of the Conference of the Presidents of the European Parliament visited Czech Republic prior to the start of Czech presidency over European Union, and they also met Václav Klaus on Prague Castle. Daniel Cohn-Bendit, chairman of Green fraction, brought European flag with himself, only. to provoke eurosceptic president. He also said explicitly, that he doesn't care for his opinions on Treaty of Lisbon, that he will simply have to sign it (in Czech law, he isn't obliged to follow resolution of Parliament). Further, Brian Crowley told to Czech president that Irish want ratification of Treaty of Lisbon and that they are insulted in that Klaus affiliates with Declan Ganley and the financially dubious lobby group Libertas. After Klaus responded that the only way how to learn what Irish think is to look on result of June referendum, Crowley was unable to reply. ^[14]

Russia

Klaus has reversed Havel's policy of avoiding many countries like China. His first major visit was to Russia and in 2006 he hosted Vladimir Putin in a style which was described by some pundits as "borderline-sycophancy" including using the Russian language to converse with him. Klaus received the 2007 Pushkin Medal for the promotion of Russian culture from Putin due to his use of Russian with Putin and with Russian diplomats.^[15][16]

Klaus has tried to cultivate friendly relationships with Russia and regularly defends it. He disagrees with all criticisms of recent developments in Russia, claiming that the situation is better than expected from a country with minimal democratic traditions and the necessity of a strong leader in Russia to organize political parties.^[17] After the August 2008 South Ossetia war broke out, he criticised Georgia for causing it and distanced himself from any criticism of Russia.^[18]

He has refused to comment on Russia's unilateral reduction of oil supplies to the Czech Republic following the agreement of the Czech Government to the siting of a US radar on Czech soil. The state-influenced Russian oil company Luxoil is paying to translate, publish and promote Klaus' book on climate change.

Václav Klaus has many times voiced his disagreement with Kosovo declaration of independence. During his visit to Slovakia in March 2008, Klaus categorically rejected the argument that Kosovo was a special case and said that it set a precedent as the countries recognizing Kosovo opened a Pandora's box in Europe that could have disastrous consequences, comparing it to the 1938 Munich treaty.^[19][20] When Serbia recalled its ambassador in protest of Czech government's recognition of Kosovo, he was invited to the Prague Castle for a friendly farewell.

In a major reversal of the Havel policy, Klaus never criticises human rights abuses in other countries, reserving his criticism to the EU and larger European states.

Re-election

Main article: Czech presidential election, 2008

The Czech Presidential election of 2008 differed from past ones in that the voting was on the record, rather than by secret ballot. This was a precondition demanded by most of the Czech political parties after the last experience, but long opposed by Klaus' Civic Democratic Party^[21] which had strengthened since 2003, already had the safe majority in the Senate even by itself and needed only to secure a few votes in the House for the third round.

Klaus' opponent was the former émigré, naturalized United States citizen and University of Michigan economics professor Jan Švejnar.^[22] He was nominated by Green Party as the pro-European liberal candidate of change, gaining the support of the leading opposition Czech Social Democratic Party, a smaller part of KDU-ČSL and most independent Senators. The first ballot on February 8–9, 2008 resulted in no winner. Švejnar won the Chamber of Deputies, but Klaus led in the assembly as a whole and barely failed to achieve the requisite majority.^[21]

The second ballot on Friday 15 February 2008 brought a new candidate — populist MEP Jana Bobošíková, nominated by the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia. However not drawing any wider support, she withdrew her candidacy before the election itself.^[22] The first and second rounds ended similarly to the previous weekend. However, Klaus consistently had 141 votes. Thus in the third round, where the only goal is to achieve a majority of all legislators present from both houses, Klaus won by the smallest possible margin. Švejnar received 111 votes, the 29 Communists voting for neither.^[23]

Although the Presidency is not directly elected by the Czech citizenry, several public opinion polls suggested a level of ambiguity. Opinion seemed to sway from narrowly supporting Švejnar in January^[24] to a dead heat,^[25] and finally to narrowly supporting the incumbent a day before the first ballot.^[22] These polls were a shock to Klaus' supoprters who had spent th previous 5 years pointing to his popularity in polls as a vindication of his activities. His opponents suggested that the first time he faced a serious opponent and was obliged to justify himself his support fell dramatically, even though he faced a person with no political experience and limited access to the public due to the Klaus-supporting position of the argest television station.

Klaus' re-election was ultimately secured by a series of unexplained votes by persons previously strongly opposed to Klaus. In particular this involved three Social Democrats who broke with their party in dubious circumstances. None of the three has explained how they could vote for someone they had so regularly criticised in the past. The election caused general disgust and rekindled old plans to switch to direct popular vote of the President which most parties have been promising without real effort; it has been discussed whether the Constitution change could allow Klaus to bypass the two-term limit, though his fall in the opinion polls has meant that his opponents claim not to be concerned about this.

On the day after is reelection Klaus gave what is viewed as an intemperate interview to Mladá fronta DNES in which he said that he wished to fight various 'enemies' of the state - listing people who had opposed his reelection. This has been taken as setting the tone for his second term.

Klaus' first term as President concluded on Friday 7 March 2008; he took oath for the second term on the same day so as not to create a president-less interregnum since the Parliament could not otherwise come to a joint session before the following Tuesday. Thus he lost the day of overlap and his second term will end on 6 March 2013.

Dispute of global warming

Klaus is a vocal critic of the notion that any global warming is man-made (anthropogenic): "Global warming is a false myth and every serious person and scientist says so."^[26] He has also criticized the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as a group of politicized scientists with one-sided opinions and one-sided assignments. He has said that other top-level politicians do not expose their doubts about global warming because "a whip of political correctness strangles their voices."^[27]

In addition he says "Environmentalism should belong in the social sciences" along with other "isms" such as communism, feminism, and liberalism. Klaus said that "environmentalism is a religion" and, in an answer to the questions of the U.S. Congressmen, a "modern counterpart of communism" that seeks to change peoples' habits and economic systems.^[26]

In a June 2007 Financial Times article, Klaus called ambitious environmentalism "the biggest threat to freedom, democracy, the market economy and prosperity", hinted that parts of the present political and scientific debate on the environment are suppressing freedom and democracy, and asked for readers opposing the term "scientific consensus", saying that "it is always achieved only by a loud minority, never by a silent majority".^[28] In an online Q&A session following the article he wrote "Environmentalism, not preservation of nature (and of environment), is a leftist ideology... Environmentalism is indeed a vehicle for bringing us socialist government at the global level. Again, my life in communism makes me oversensitive in this respect."^[29] He reiterated these statements at a showing of Martin Durkin's The Great Global Warming Swindle organised by his think tank CEP in June 2007, becoming the only head of state to endorse the film.^[30] In November 2007 BBC World's Hardtalk Klaus called the interviewer "absolutely arrogant" for claiming that a scientific consensus embracing the bulk of the world had been reached on climate change and said that he was "absolutely certain" that people would look back in 30 years and thank him.^[31]

At a September 2007 United Nations Climate Change Conference, Klaus spoke of his disbelief in global warming, calling for a second IPCC to be set up to produce competing reports, and for countries to be left alone to set their priorities and prepare their own plans for the problem. This appearace is viewed as having been instrumental in the Czech Republic's failing to secure a place on the UN's Security Council. ^[32]

Klaus has recently published a book titled "Modrá, nikoli zelená planeta" (Blue planet -- not green) which comes to the conclusion that

Future plans

Klaus signalled his intention to increase his influence in Czech politics and hosted a series of meetings with ODS politicians intended to force Mirek Topolanek to resign from the leadership of the party and as Prime Minister. Klaus' candidate to replace him was Prague Mayor Pavel Bém who rose in the party due to Klaus' patronage. Bém, a psychiatrist by training, is personally close to Klaus and was at one point his personal doctor. On Sunday 9th November Bem said that he believes that the ODS should oppose the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty - signalling that Klaus' anti-EU line would prevail if Bém took over the party.

On Sunday December 7th 2008, Bém stood against Topolanek for the post of ODS chairman at the ODS party congress.^[33] Bém lost by 284 votes to 162,^[33] and was replaced as first deputy chairman for the ODS by David Vodrážka.^[33] Klaus had resigned as honorary ODS chairman the day before.^[33]

Klaus has stated that he intends to continue to speak out on climate change and the European Union, and will use the country's presidency of the EU in 2009 to further his agenda.

Talk of possible impeachment

On 30th November 2008, the Czech Education Minister Ondřej Liška stated that he would attempt to open up discussions on the possible impeachment of the Czech president on the grounds that Václav Klaus is purportedly undermining the foreign policy of his country by publicly campaigning against the Lisbon Treaty^[34]. However, this step is viewed as unlikely to succeed, as under the Czech constitution, the president can only be impeached if found to have committed treason or is unable to serve in his or her function ^[35].

References

External links

• Official personal pages – English section
• Biography and selected speeches at the President's office
• Luboš Motl: Klaus in an interview on Global Warming with Hospodářské noviny, a Czech economics daily; February 2007
• Facing a Challenge of the Current Era: Environmentalism, a Cato Institute policy forum featuring Václav Klaus
• The Economist: Grumpy Uncle Vaclav, 4.12.2008

Presidents of the Czech Republic Václav Havel · Václav Klaus

Prime Ministers of the Czech Republic Václav Klaus | Josef Tošovský | Miloš Zeman | Vladimír Špidla | Stanislav Gross | Jiří Paroubek | Mirek Topolánek

Speakers of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic Milan Uhde · Miloš Zeman · Václav Klaus · Lubomír Zaorálek · Miloslav Vlček

Heads of state of the European Union member states Fischer (AT) · Albert II (BE2) · Parvanov (BG) · Christofias1 (CY) · Klaus (CZ) · Margrethe II (DK2) · Ilves (EE) · Halonen (FI) · Sarkozy1 (FR) · Köhler (DE) · Papoulias (GR) · Sólyom (HU) · McAleese (IE) · Napolitano (IT) · Zatlers (LV) · Adamkus (LT) · Henri (LU2) · Fenech Adami (MT) · Beatrix (NL2) · Kaczyński (PL) · Cavaco Silva (PT) · Băsescu (RO) · Gašparovič (SK) · Türk (SI) · Juan Carlos I (ES2) · Carl XVI Gustaf (SE2) · Elizabeth II (UK2) 1 Also members of the European Council. 2 Monarchies.