Václav Klaus Addresses the European Parliament
Václav Klaus gave a speech that U.S. politicians would do well to listen to:
The citizens of the Czech Republic feel that the European integration has an important and needed mission and task. It can be summarized in the following way:
– removing unnecessary – and for human freedom and prosperity counterproductive – barriers to the free movement of people, goods, services, ideas, political philosophies, world views, cultural patterns and behaviour models that have been for various reasons over the centuries formed among the individual European states;
– a joint care of the public goods, existing on the continental level, meaning projects that cannot be effectively carried out through bilateral negotiations of two (or more) neighbouring European countries.
….
This is closely connected with the question of prosperity. We must say openly that the present economic system of the EU is a system of a suppressed market, a system of a permanently strengthening centrally controlled economy. Although history has more than clearly proven that this is a dead end, we find ourselves walking the same path once again. (my emphasis – tarran) This results in a constant rise in both the extent of government masterminding and constraining of spontaneity of the market processes. In recent months, this trend has been further reinforced by incorrect interpretation of the causes of the present economic and financial crisis, as if it was caused by free market, while in reality it is just the contrary – caused by political manipulation of the market. It is again necessary to point out to the historical experience of our part of Europe and to the lessons we learned from it.
Predictably, his speech calling for less political centralization and more economic liberalization was poorly received, with a substantial portion of the parliament walking out on his speech after booing him:
Read the entire thing.
H/T Lew Rockwell
