Václav vs. Václav

Civitas, 14 October 2009

A brief comparison of the political styles of two politicians – Vaclav Klaus and Vaclav Havel reveals the ‘era of disgust’ that has plagued Czech politics in the last twenty years. Vaclav Klaus’ obstructionism in the last few days is somewhat difficult to explain. It is not necessarily pressure from Eurosceptics in the UK. His comments to British Eurosceptics not to wait for the Czechs are testament to that. Nor is it easy to explain his demand for an opt-out from the Charter of Fundamental Rights in the treaty, alleging that ethnic Germans expelled under the post-war Benes decrees could otherwise reclaim expropriated property. The main problem with the Klausian argument is this…

 The incorporation of the charter in the Lisbon treaty is intended to extend its application to European institutions, and to individual member states when they are putting EU decisions into effect. It cannot be applied retrospectively, so it has no relevance to the question of Czech property rights decided by the Benes decrees. The Czech Republic, furthermore, is a long-time signatory to the body its president now claims threatens its sovereignty: the European Court of Human Rights, which has never shown any interest in this affair. If Mr Klaus had really discerned a genuine vital national interest, he would presumably have raised it long ago, as other member-states have done. He is instead playing games with the Czechs’ national pysche and unreal fears of being swamped by Sudeten Germans. Most Czechs are happy with EU membership and can see its benefit. Perhaps that is why Mr Klaus has started refining his role of provocateur into saboteur.

Vaclav Havel, Klaus’ political rival, has said that the logic of Klaus’ thinking stems from a generational, rather than a policy-oriented motive. “If you look at the C.V.’s of current Czech politicians, you see that most of them are in their 50s,” he said. This means they matured in what he called “early normalization” — roughly from 1969 to the mid-1970s, when the Soviet-led invasion that crushed the Prague Spring reforms of 1968 gave way to a dull and autocratic regime dependent on Moscow, “one of the darkest periods,” Mr. Havel said, of national history.  In his view, those years have marked many current politicians, leaving them prone to conspiratorial thinking and acts of petty deceit. Compounding this, he said, is “some kind of existential crisis,” caused by a global pursuit of materialism and by the specific Czech legacy of 40 years of Communist rule.

The President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barrosso, told the Czechs that the European Union’s patience was running out with President Klaus’s continued refusal to sign the treaty. Mr Barroso has ruled out any attempts by Mr Klaus to reopen the Lisbon Treaty to insert a new Czech clause, a decision that will require ratification to be carried out all over again in all EU countries. If not, the Czech’s could lose its seat on the European Commission unless Mr Klaus stops placing “artificial obstacles” in the way of the EU Lisbon Treaty. For Havel, Klaus’ actions are nothing but a bureaucratic paper tiger. Europe is waiting to see which Vaclav will prove right.

Ahmed Mehdi