Czech President: 'Europeans live in dream world"

[RonOnGuitar]

Czech President Vaclav Klaus addressing the increasing EU bureaucracy, notes "We had that in communist times".

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Czech warns Europe of 'dream world' woes



Czech President Vaclav Klaus said Europeans are living in a "dream world" of welfare and long vacations and have yet to realize "they are not moving toward some sort of nirvana."

The Czech Republic is a candidate for European Union membership, but Mr. Klaus, who was elected president in February, made clear in an interview his distaste for the organization.

However, he conceded during a visit to Washington last week that "the political unification of Europe" is now in "an accelerated process ... in all aspects and in all respects."

Mr. Klaus said the movement toward a single political entity of 25 European nations "will not change until people start thinking and realizing they are not moving toward some sort of nirvana."

The Czech president remains convinced that "you cannot have democratic accountability in anything bigger than a nation state."

Asked whether he could see the nation-state disappearing, Mr. Klaus replied, "That could well be the case, [but] it remains to be seen whether it will be the nominal disappearance or the real disappearance.

"We could see the scaffolding of a nation-state that would retain a president and similar institutions, but with virtually zero influence," he said "That's my forecast. And it's not a reassuring vision of the future."

Last week, the European Court of Auditors in Luxembourg released a 400-page report that found "systematic problems, over-estimations, faulty transactions, significant errors and other shortcomings" in the EU budget.

EU auditors could vouch for only 10 percent of the $120 billion the bloc spent in 2002. It was the ninth successive year the auditors were unable to certify the budget as a whole.

Europeans have not yet faced up to such "serious underlying issues," Mr. Klaus said, because "they are still in the dream world of welfare, long vacations, guaranteed high pensions and cradle-to-grave social security."

The biggest challenge for the Czech Republic, Mr. Klaus said, is to avoid falling into the trap of "a new form of collectivism." Asked whether he meant a new form of neo-Marxism, he said, "Absolutely not, but I see other sectors endangering free societies.

"The enemies of free societies today are those who want to burden us down again with layer upon layer of regulations," Mr. Klaus said.

"We had that in communist times. But now if you look at all the new rules and regulations of EU membership, layered bureaucracy is staging a comeback."

The European Union's 30,000 bureaucrats have produced some 80,000 pages of regulations that the Czech Republic and the other applicants for EU membership will have to adopt.

Mr. Klaus dismissed anti-Americanism in Europe, which he sees as "more a reflection of American anti-Europeanism than European anti-Americanism."

He said those who organize demonstrations in Europe are a tiny minority of the population. "The majority doesn't care to demonstrate."

Asked about the U.S.-led war on terrorism, Mr. Klaus said, "It is quite normal that the principal targets of al Qaeda are the U.S. and the UK, as they have taken the lead to do something about those who launch the terrorist attacks.

"We understand the fragility and vulnerability of today's world and we know these attacks are coming close to us, but as someone from a small country, I have a tendency to take domestic issues first and then look at the external ones."

The Czech Republic is one of 33 nations with troops in Iraq, but Mr. Klaus has been critical of the postwar transition to an Iraqi civilian government.

"My concern was always what to do after the end of the war because I know something about the transition from a totalitarian regime to a free society," he said. "This cannot be done by soldiers, or by foreigners.

"After we won back our freedom at the end of the Cold War, there was a proposal to bring back Czechs who had escaped to Western countries and make up a new government of those people who had been living in free countries.

"Those who had lived the tragic communist experience said no to the idea of foreigners organizing our transition back to freedom. We said we had to do this ourselves without outside influence dictating what we should do."



(Arnaud de Borchgrave, editor at large of The Washington Times, is also editor at large of United Press International)



Czech warns Europe of 'dream world' woes

[Galmin]

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The Czech president remains convinced that "you cannot have democratic accountability in anything bigger than a nation state."

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The EU is a Union and democracy has worked for each member nationally ever since EU was created!

That Klaus spent all that time behind the Iron Curtain and perhaps doesn't know this is obvious.



On 15.06 this year, the Czech Republic voted overwhelmingly to join the European Union (would it be the case if they percieved the EU to be another Soviet Union?).

So the train has already left the platform.



I think Klaus is pissed off because Chirac lectured those who gave in to the extortion prior the war on Iraq.

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"The enemies of free societies today are those who want to burden us down again with layer upon layer of regulations," Mr. Klaus said.

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No, "the enemies of free societies" just want you to follow the Human Rights, so things like in Nachod, Ostrava, Hodinin or even Prague (On September 26, six hundred injuries) does not occur again.

[DreamTone7]

I think Klaus is "right on the money" (pun intended). Regulations are always about control....and, more to the point, about a larger administration to keep the control organized (whether the extra people are needed or not). Yep, it looks like Europe has its first "Democratic party" of a sort.....and I think Europe is going to find out why it's so difficult to run such a large piece of land under one roof. (Just a hunch.....and it will take time to see if it is true.) Graft, treachery and hidden agendas will become an even larger part of the picture than it ever has been before in Europe. Not being able to pin down the euro is indirect, but clear (at least to me) evidence of that.

[Galmin]

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Graft, treachery and hidden agendas will become an even larger part of the picture than it ever has been before in Europe. Not being able to pin down the euro is indirect, but clear (at least to me) evidence of that.

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Please elaborate.

[DreamTone7]

Can you say "deficit spending" for starters?

[Galmin]

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Can you say "deficit spending" for starters?

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Yes I can, but not to the tune of trillions. That's your department

[NumberOneWorld]

one army.... one currancy... one language.... a very old plan....

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At its height, in 117 AD, under Emperor Trajan; the Roman Empire controlled all of southern Europe, Britain, Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt and North Africa. Cities were established; trade was regulated and taxes were collected. The Legions of Rome, as occupying forces, built some 53,000 miles of roads, bridges, aqueducts and sewers, some of which are still in use today. At that time, one could travel from northern England, through Central Europe to the Middle East and Africa, using one language, one currency and a single passport; traveling over the "Interstate Highway System" of the Ancient World; which had been built for the same reasons that the German AutoBahns were built in the 1930,s and the U.S. Interstate Highways were contructed in the 1950's... for the rapid movement of troops and supplies throughout the respective Empire - Reich - Nation. Roman laws, manners and customs were adopted all over the Empire and many of them have been carried forward into our current cultures. Ancient Latin is used in religous and scientific notation and is the foundation and root of many modern languages, including English, Spanish, French, and of course, modern Italian. The Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Religions have their origins in the Western and Eastern Roman Empires, respectfully.

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"same as it ever was"

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thewireweb

NumberOneWorld

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The Bulletin Board

[RonOnGuitar]

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Graft, treachery and hidden agendas will become an even larger part of the picture than it ever has been before in Europe.

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Yup, DT, and it seems the nations of New Europe (e.g. the Czechs) are not all that excited about signing on to another form of totalitarism after having escaped the former one. With countries of the OE not willing to give up the "dream world" Ponzi scheme, I imagine the NE nations are worried they will have to foot the bill. But EU fraud is out of control, even setting aside the German and French refusal to abide by their own finance laws. No honor among thieves and all that, doncha know.



EU FRAUD ON THE RISE



EU fraud has risen by 18 per cent in the past year, with the financial fall-out topping more than €850 million according to the latest figures.



A report by the EU’s anti-fraud body OLAF, due to be released in the next couple of weeks, will reveal that suspected cases rose by almost one fifth to 3440 from July 2002 to June 2003.



Few EU institutions or policy areas remain untouched by suspected fraudulent activities, with the external sector in particular showing a “considerable increase”.



According to OLAF case records in external policy have jumped to 215 compared to 174 in the previous year, representing a 23 per cent increase.



The rise in this sector led the anti-fraud body to report 30 alleged criminal offences to national authorities.



The Balkan region is reported to be a high priority area, and an increasing number of cases involve aid to countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia.



Fraud within the EU institutions is also shown to be going strong, with OLAF opening 30 new investigations over the past 12 months.



Within the EU institutions, it reports, “half of all allegations concerned irregularities in tenders and grant procedures and in contract award and execution, including conflict of interest”.



The OLAF revelations will come as another blow for the European Commission, which has been trying to stamp out fraud and mismanagement under the guidance of Neil Kinnock.



Only last week, the annual report of the Court of Auditors revealed that for the ninth year in a row it could not give positive assurances for just over 90 per cent of the EU’s €100 billion budget, due to shortcomings in commission and national control systems.



And the new evidence is likely to fuel the commission’s critics, particularly in the wake of the recent scandal at the EU’s statistical office, which saw millions of euros siphoned into secret bank accounts.



“The report shows that the extent of fraud in the EU is much bigger than the Eurostat scandal. It doesn’t say much for Romano Prodi’s “zero tolerance” policy,” said UK Conservative MEP Chris Heaton-Harris.



The commission has argued that the latest figures are simply a consequence of better controls. The report itself points to the fact that additional resources were diverted to internal investigations and that there was a rise in external aid probes.



Brussels has also long-maintained that lax controls within EU member states – which administer around 80 per cent of the budget – make the money difficult to police.



Italy tops the EU fraud league, with a total of 89 cases under investigation. It is followed closely by Belgium with 83 and Germany with 79.



Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Ireland are the least corrupt.



And when it comes to individual European countries, the OLAF report signals a rise in creativity across Europe.



A Croatian scam to claim support for its sugar cane industry, even though sugar cane only grows in a tropical climate, has so far left the EU short of €700,000.

[LarreeMP3]

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Europeans are living in a "dream world" of welfare and long vacations

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Yeah. While WE do all the f*cking work. F*ck those lazy bastards!

[questionnaire]

Yes, it's you lot over there I'm talking about.



"totalitarism", Ron? I assume you mean totalitarianism, oh paralexic one. Yes, we'll abandon the ideal of social democracy and deregulate everything, then we can have a (non)society like yours:



- 90 million functionally illiterate citizens

- 19,000 - 23,000 murders every year

- the highest proportional number of serial killers in the world due to underfunded and antiquated psychiatric services

- one of the most profound drug problems in the world

- imperial ambitions (that we abandoned decades ago)

- crumbling health and welfare services

- the western world's most profound obesity problem

- an economy in long-term decline

- corporate crooks and barbarians running your country as a shadow-government

- an absurdly energy-dependent lifestyle

- the retention of the death penalty

- one of the world's most inane, dumbed-down media cultures

- and absurd, almost religious faith in the market as a panacea for everything

- a population dumb enough to elect Arnie as a senior politician



I could go on. Bureaucracy is an irritant and produces its own unique absurdities, but anything is better than that.



Q.

[Galmin]

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Yup, DT, and it seems the nations of New Europe (e.g. the Czechs) are not all that excited about signing on to another form of totalitarism after having escaped the former one.

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Let me quote myself, as I stated erlier in this very thread:

"On 15.06 this year, the Czech Republic voted overwhelmingly to join the European Union (would it be the case if they percieved the EU to be another Soviet Union?)."

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the German and French refusal

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Yup, the rules are there to be followed.

Ergo: they should PAY UP!

[MIKE BURN]

Make that



"Mexican President: Americans live in dream world"









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