MEPs react angrily to Czech leader EU speech

MEPs have accused Czech president Václav Klaus of arrogance and ignorance following his speech to the European parliament.

Addressing MEPs on Thursday, Klaus claimed that the EU was undemocratic and called for a debate over the future of the institutions.

Klaus, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, said there was "a great distance", not only in a geographical sense, between citizens and EU representatives.

A number of MEPs walked out of the chamber when the Czech president warned that the situation would be worsened by adopting the Lisbon treaty "since there is no European demos - and no European nation".

Responding to the speech, parliament's president Hans-Gert Pöttering said Klaus had reflected "the diversity in Europe" but pointed out that "in a democracy it's the view of the majority that counts".

Socialist leader Martin Schulz said the Czech president showed he "has no understanding of democracy or the workings of the European institutions".

"We take note that a person who is totally isolated was applauded by a mixture of anti-Europeans and neo-fascists," he added.

"My message to Klaus is that the treaty of Lisbon will be put into effect."

Klaus also claimed that political meddling had resulted in the economic crisis. Responding, parliament's economic and monetary committee chair Pervenche Beres said, "There is no market that can work without a counterbalance. It was the Socialists who always argued for balancing measures to the blind and supposedly super-powerful market."

ALDE leader Graham Watson said that the speech was "controversial but frank and some of the reactions to it exaggerated".

"There were some kernels of truth in what president Klaus said about the distance between the voters and the European parliament to which MEPs should pay heed," he added.

"Nonetheless, he fails to appreciate how EU democracy works, nor how the Lisbon treaty would change it for the better."

Watson described Klaus' claim that those who experienced communism value democracy and freedom more highly as "regrettably arrogant" but insisted that many Czechs disagreed with him on the issues.

ALDE constitutional affairs spokesman Andrew Duff said Klaus had displayed a "profound lack of understanding of the EU". "As things stand, Klaus demeans the legitimacy of the European parliament, but has no alternative democratic solution to offer," he said.

Claiming the EU's top priority was the ratification of the Lisbon treaty, he added "When everyone else is drawing the conclusion that Europeans will be stronger together, it is sad to see the presiding head of state of the Union pulling in the opposite direction."

Jo Leinen, the chairman of parliament's constitutional affairs committee, said Klaus presented himself "as a lone and incorrigible provocateur".

"Václav Klaus' speech today in the European parliament showed that despite the Czech Republic's accession to the EU, he himself has not fully arrived in the EU yet," said Leinen.

"His statements concerning the European parliament are completely unacceptable. He does not accept the possibility of a parliamentary democracy on the European level and remains in a national-state-centric thinking.

"Thus, he seriously attacks the direct election of the members of the European parliament instituted 30 years ago. At the same time he undermines the role of the European Parliament as a citizen's representation."

The co-president of the Greens, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, said Klaus had "perfectly timed his visit to the European parliament to fall right in the middle of the carnival festival".

"To mark the occasion, the Greens would like to nominate him for a special carnival award in recognition of his efforts as provocateur of the year," he said. "His speech to this house was a perfect source of festive amusement.

"In his speech, Klaus outlined a completely twisted and manipulated view of the European reality.

"He has demonstrated a total ignorance of the historic importance of European integration. To seriously compare the decision-making process in the European Union with that of the Soviet Union indicates that the man has lost all touch with reality."

UKIP leader Nigel Farage gave a more positive response to what he described as Klaus' "demolition job on the European Union political elite".

"He suggested that their unwillingness to listen to alternative views was similar to that to the previous Soviet regime," Farage said.

"It is the only time in my 10 years that I have stood up and cheered loudly."

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