opinion piece Czech President in Financial Times - read and weep -

opinion piece Czech President in Financial Times - read and weep -


    Do not tie the markets -- free them

By Vaclav Klaus

Published: January 6 2009 18:45 | Last updated: January 6 2009 18:45

It is a common feeling that the Czech Republic is taking over 
<http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/bc2f1d3a-d5cb-11dd-a9cc-000077b07658.html> 
the European Union presidency at a rather complicated moment, even 
though almost all "moments" can eventually be called "complicated". We 
should not panic and must say No to people who -- by describing the 
current moment as /the/ historically unique one -- want only to 
manipulate us.

There are, of course, highly publicised (if not over-publicised) 
problems. The world is in the midst of a deep financial and economic 
crisis <http://www.ft.com/indepth/global-financial-crisis>. The EU has 
growing troubles with its increasingly visible democratic deficit and is 
gravely divided as regards its own institutional arrangements. _The 
global climate is basically not changing, but global warming alarmists 
have succeeded in persuading politicians (and some ordinary people as 
well) that a doomsday is coming and on this false assumption they have 
tried to restrain our freedom and curtail our prosperity_. The 
long-existing nucleus of armed conflicts accompanied by immense 
suffering of millions of people -- in places such as Afghanistan, Iraq, 
Israel-Palestine and some African regions -- does not promise any quick 
solution.

_The economic crisis should be regarded as an unavoidable consequence 
and hence a "just" price we have to pay for immodest and over-confident 
politicians playing with the market. Their attempts to blame the market, 
instead of blaming themselves, are unacceptable and should be resolutely 
rejected. The Czech government will -- hopefully -- not push the world 
and Europe into more regulation, nationalisation, de-liberalisation and 
protectionism_. Our historical experience gives us a very strong warning 
in this respect.

Looking for ways out, we should -- to use an analogy -- strictly 
differentiate between fighting the fire and drafting fire protection 
legislation. We have to concentrate on the first task now; the second 
one can be done gradually, without haste and panic. A big increase in 
financial regulation, as is being proposed so often these days, will 
only prolong the recession. Growth in the global economy is falling 
rapidly, the banks have ceased to grant credit and confidence is ebbing. 
Radically changing regulation governing financial institutions in the 
midst of recession is counterproductive.

Aggregate demand needs strengthening. One traditional way to do this is 
to increase government expenditures, probably in public infrastructure 
projects, on condition these are available. _It would be much more 
helpful, however, to have a great reduction in all kinds of restrictions 
on private initiatives introduced in the last half a century during the 
era of the brave new world of the "social and ecological market 
economy"_. _The best thing to do now would be temporarily to weaken, if 
not repeal, various labour, environmental, social, health and other 
"standards", because they block rational human activity more than 
anything els_e.

As regards the EU's "constitutional" stalemate, the Czech government 
will -- hopefully -- not lead Europe to an ever-closer union, to a 
Europe of regions (instead of states), to a centralised, supranational 
Europe or to an increasingly controlled and regulated Europe 
masterminded from above. It will keep stressing its EU presidency slogan 
"Europe without barriers", _which means the advocacy of further 
liberalisation, removing trade barriers and getting rid of protectionism_.

Our historical experience gives us a clear instruction: we always need 
more of markets and less of government intervention. We also know that 
government failure is more costly than market failure.

We can also count on the fact that the Czech government will hopefully 
not be the champion of global warming alarmism. _The Czechs feel that 
freedom and prosperity are much more endangered than the climate_. _The 
uniqueness of current levels of global warming is not a proven 
phenomenon. The explanation of factors that are contributing to global 
warming is not very clear and persuasive. Moves to mitigate climate 
change by fighting carbon dioxide emissions are useless and, what is 
most important, human beings have proved themselves to be sufficiently 
adaptable to an incrementally changing climate_. We should turn our 
attention to other, really daunting issues.

The world in the year 2009 will not be spared armed conflicts, 
international terrorism, and territorial and religious disputes which -- 
no matter how geographically distant they may be -- will have 
consequences for all of us. We know that peace cannot be declared 
unilaterally and that long-lasting solutions are usually not the ones 
that are imposed from abroad. The Czech government will not support 
external interventions into the domestic affairs of sovereign countries. 
We should resist being seduced by philosopher-king ambitions.

The pragmatic Czechs -- with all their criticism of European 
decision-making mechanisms -- will not attempt to initiate a 
pan-European "velvet revolution" but will promote their interests and 
priorities. We will treat others as we expect to be treated: with 
respect for different views. We will be happy if a common denominator in 
-- at least -- some cases can be found. Reliance on negotiations and on 
the positive effect of the diversity of views is what makes Europe Europe.

The EU presidency might give us a chance to make use of some of our 
views to the benefit of the citizens of all EU member states. Their 
welfare and happiness will be maximised in a free, democratic, 
decentralised, open and liberalised Europe.

/The writer is president of the Czech Republic. The Czech Republic has 
just assumed the rotating presidency of the European Union/

-- 
Jeroen Verhoeven
Car Efficiency Campaign
Friends of the Earth Europe
Rue Blanche 15
1050 Brussels
T: +32.2542.61.01
skype: jeroen_verhoeven (Brussels)
Mobile: +32.477.46.31.81


--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
Groups "World Carfree Network" group.
To post to this group, send email to carfree_network-/[email protected]
Replies are sent to the author of the message.
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
carfree_network-unsubscribe-/[email protected]
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/carfree_network?hl=en?hl=en
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---