Vaclav Klaus has been inaugurated as the new president of the Czech Republic, after several months of wrangling in Parliament. The position is elected by the two houses of the Czech legislature and represents a victory for the free-market opposition.
I first heard of Klaus when he was the Finance Minister of the Czech Republic when Czechoslovakia was a federal state (1989-1993). He was known to have a photograph of Mrs Thatcher on his wall and to be a keen follower of Hayekian economic theory. Vladimir Meciar, the double-agent populist who became Prime Minister of Slovakia in 1992 on promises to restore Slovak honour, demanded more subsidies from the Czech Republic or he would take Slovakia out of the federation. The response of Klaus, by then Czech prime minister was to say “Goodbye!” and not out loud, “Good Riddance!” to the horror of Meciar’s entourage. The episode soured relations between Klaus and Vaclav Havel, the friend of London’s ‘champagne socialist’ set who enjoyed the trappings of the presidency.
I last saw Klaus at the summer university last September at Aix en Provence, where he was awarded a special honour by the town, and guest of honour at the IES event. His election is a blow to the Left in the Czech Republic, to the European Social Democrat consensus (especially Messrs Chiraq and Schroder), and to spin-doctoring. Klaus’s TV debate technique is to explain unemployment by drawing supply and demand curves on a blackboard and drawing a line to show how many more people need to lose their jobs or take pay cuts. With the imminent accesion of the Czech Republic to the EU, I think some entertaining Council of Ministers’ meetings are in prospect.
“With the imminent accesion of the Czech Republic to the EU, I think some entertaining Council of Ministers’ meetings are in prospect”.
I’m hoping that there is more in prospect, like a devolvement of powers back to the member nations and also comprehensive deregulation.
The breakup of Czechoslovakia really ought to be held up as a shining example of how to break up a state peacefully — and Klaus and Meciar should have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for it. Unfortunately, they don’t fit the correct political leanings, so the Nobel committee decided to award the 1992 prize to the more politically correct Rigoberta Menchu.
“Hayekian”
Who is Hayek? Never heard of him and would like to read up on his theories.
Byron,
if you want to read Hayek I recommend his seminal work The Road to Serfdom.
Here is his lecture from 1974, on the occasion of wining the Nobel Prize:
The pretence of knowledge
And here is a profile of him, wwith a lot of links:
Profile
I can only pray for more of these days for the world at large…..and sooon.
Thanks Ralf
You are welcome.
Hey, can anyone tell me where I can find documentation on the Czech/Slovak track record on political reforms after the Velvet Revolution?