17 June 2008

Czech President takes the Side of Ireland

The President (and former Prime Minister) of the Czech Republic, Václav Klaus (left), has broken ranks with other EU leaders and openly praised the courage of the Irish people to reject the Lisbon Treaty.

Klaus, whose signature is also needed for the Lisbon Treaty's approval, called the Irish NO "a victory for liberty and reason over elitist plans and European bureaucracy".

Speaking at a meeting with the Presidents of France, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia in his capital Prague, Klaus emphasised that in Ireland - the only EU country where people had a vote on the new treaty - "the conflict between democracy and bureaucracy clearly came out into the open". He was pleased, he added, that democracy had won.

The Czech President, an economist and strong supporter of the free market theory, served as Minister for Finance in both Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic, before becoming the Prime Minister of his country in 1992. In 2003 he succeeded
Václav Havel as President.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Three cheers for President Klaus and the Czech Republic!

The smaller countries in the EU have to stick together. Only then can we stop the empire dreams of the big boys.

THE EMERALD ISLANDER said...

President Klaus is still a strong bulwark against the attempts to push the Lisbon Treaty through, or to slip it in by the political back door. He is to be commended for such good principles.

Post a Comment