President Klaus wages war on energy saving light bulbs

Two topics are guaranteed to evoke an angry reaction from President Václav Klaus: environmental activists and Euro-federalists. On Friday he took both to task at the launch of his new book “Blue Planet Under Threat”.

President Klaus on Friday launched a new offensive against environmental activists in a sequel to his highly publicized book “Blue Planet in Green Shackles”. The follow-up, called “Blue Planet under Threat”, explains in greater detail how damaging the “global warming hypothesis” can be in the hands of politicians who would use it to justify the curtailment of personal freedom and economic growth. Mr. Klaus arrived at the book launch armed with a powerful argument –Edison’s light bulb.

Václav Klaus, photo: CTK

This, he said, was the perfect example of where the global warming hysteria could lead – to politicians dictating what light bulbs people may use. He was referring to the Brussels directive for EU member states to phase out incandescent light bulbs and replace them with energy-saving alternatives, such as compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) and LED lamps, starting September 1st. Mr. Klaus who has defended the widespread use of traditional light bulbs at Prague Castle –with a ferocity equal to that of refusing to fly the EU flag there – urged Czechs to stock up on the old light bulbs to last them a lifetime. In one of his most radical statements to date Mr. Klaus said the world’s leading environmentalists had taken a leaf out of Stalin’s book – recalling that the Soviet dictator had once said “make only the kind of prognoses that cannot be refuted before your death”. And he expressed the belief that environmentalists were secretly glad of the economic crisis –which would make people curb their excesses. The book contains a collection of Mr. Klaus’ lectures – with answers to the most frequently asked questions. For instance asked why he thinks so many people are ready to accept the global warming theory without question – Mr. Klaus says: some people believe in UFOs, others in global warming.

Explosive as it was, the president’s latest attack seems to have made little impression. According to a Eurobarometer survey only six percent of Czechs agree with the view that global warming is not a threat to mankind and the head of the Czech environmental association Duha Vojtěch Kotecký noted that they were used to Mr. Klaus' language and did not take it seriously. There likewise appears to be little sign of panic buying in the shops – although some people may have stocked up well in advance. One thing is clear energy-saving CFLs will not be welcome at Prague Castle while President Klaus is in office.