Читать книгу Europeanisation and Renationalisation - Группа авторов - Страница 27

A key role in the debate on Europeanisation in the CR was played by Václav Klaus (Prime Minister 1992-1997, and later President 2003-2013) and with him his conservative-right party, the ODS (Civic Democratic Party). It was Václav Klaus, ODS chairman at the time, who in the mid-1990s had added the EU as one of his favourite topics of contention. While Klaus has been relatively consistent in his positions on the EU, during the late 90’s, a change from a relatively moderate Eurosceptic view into a rather vocal critic of EU developments cannot be denied. During his presidential term (2003-2013), he made European integration one of his main issues. As President, he took advantage of key political duties of his office, and for ten years served as the agenda setter for European issues. As a famous critic of the current form of the EU Klaus paradoxically contributed to the Europeanisation of public discourse in the CR. This was not because key political parties agreed with him, but the opposite. In addition to “his” ODS (which did not always agree with him), he was often criticised for his “too anti-Europe” and “too pro-Russia” stances. His strategy of negative positions on the EU had a serious effect on the political debate in the CR. Practically all key political actors were dragged into the discussion and thus had to address the topic. Kopeček describes Klaus' politics in the following way.

The skilled debater cleverly took advantage of the aura of the Presidency and successfully turned interviews toward topics that he wanted to discuss, or that he felt were a priority. He developed a full thematic repertoire, with specific modifications, additions, and emphases, which he maintained to the end of his Presidency. Its most visible aspect was the criticism of the direction of the EU (Kopeček 2012: 157).

Over the course of his term, he initiated heated debates over many major (in addition to a few minor) European issues, particularly about the Lisbon Treaty, the crisis of Greece, and the crisis of the Eurozone; more recently, after his term, the debate on the migrant crisis can be added to this list. In addition to [53] well-known publications from that time (numerous essays, columns, and press interviews), he also critiqued the Union and addressed the economic crisis in multiple books, which gained a great deal of media attention. While it is not possible to model the past, the course of the discussion on various select topics associated with the EU (including the economic crisis) could have possibly been completely different had Václav Klaus not been in a key position at that time.