President Klaus’ new book looks back at eventful year 2009

The year 2009 was an eventful time for President Václav Klaus. He chaired several EU summits during the country’s presidency of the bloc, and he was the last man standing against the EU’s Lisbon treaty. On Monday, Václav Klaus launched a new book entitled Year Seven, reflecting his views of the events of that year.

Václav Klaus has been Czech president for seven years now, but few of them were as memorable as 2009. Looking back at the past year in office, Mr Klaus launched a new book on Monday, entitled Year Seven – a collection of speeches, articles and remarks the Czech head of state delivered in the last year. Mr Klaus says he paid special attention to two dominant issues – the Czech presidency of the European Union, and his opposition to the bloc’s reform Lisbon treaty, which put him in the spotlight of most European media – and ended with his signing the document last November.

“This issue was a dominant one for me and I believe for all citizens of the Czech Republic. And it was quite useful for me to collect all my articles, speeches and addresses on this topic, to order them chronologically, and I think the line-up is a sound reflection of my arguments.”

The rotating presidency of the European Union, held by the Czech Republic in the first six months of 2009, also brought a lot of attention to the Czech head of state. In April, he received US President Barack Obama and in May, he first chaired an EU-China summit in Prague and later met with Russian president Dmitry Medvedev in Chabarovks. The president’s critics often note that his eccentric views have increasingly driven him into international isolation, but Mr. Klaus disagrees.

Václav Klaus, foto: ČTK

“We had the highest ever number of foreign visits in 2009, measured by the number of honour guard reviews at Prague castle, by the number of state dinners, or the times we prepared menus for them – but seriously speaking, also measured by the numbers of significant presidential speeches. I’m sure we can’t match those numbers anytime in the future.”

Later this month, President Klaus will receive more significant visitors as British Prince Charles and his wife Camilla are set to conclude their central European tour in the Czech Republic. And President Klaus is not done with another of pet subjects – the European Union. In April, he is scheduled to deliver what he says will be a key speech – known as Europarede – at Humboldt University in Berlin.

“I promised to deliver this year’s Europarede on April 29. I considered crucial my address to the European Parliament in February 2009, and this address will also be crucial. Let me just say that I have already started working on it.”

Václav Klaus has three more years to serve as the Czech president, and he wants to see his book series completed with three more volumes of collected works.