Vaclav Klaus Quotes

We agree: Brussels can't regulate everything. I'm driven by something else: There are forces in Europe that want to generally give national policy priority over a common European approach. We have to prevent this.

You have to spend your political capital on great causes for your country.

I defy anyone - and I have said this to the Germans - to build a solid, articulated, and viable Europe without France's consent.

Having viewed Europe as an extension and projection of itself, France now finds Europe developing a mind and identity of its own which embraces France but is not controlled by France.

The strength of a nation should be expended to defend its own existence. It is totally wrong to forget that and to use one’s forces for the purposes of foreigners. Those who led the war, forgot our own existence and became prisoners of the Germans…

Our foreign policy has been inspired by two simple principles: the determination to place France's interests above all others, and the conviction that France has no greater interest than that of peace.

We prefer the well-being of our country over the well-being of an individual or group.

Reforms are national affairs and national affairs have to be dealt with in domestic disputes and not with disputes with other partners in Europe.

Our common responsibility is to put Europe's interests first.

It's not for Germany to decide for the rest of Europe.

Personal interests have no importance compared to national interests.

If, like me, you believe that your taxes should be spent on your priorities in this country by politicians accountable to you then you should vote to leave the E.U.

Countries are different. They make different choices. We cannot harmonise everything. For example, it is neither right nor necessary to claim that the integrity of the single market, or full membership of the European Union requires the working hours of British hospital doctors to be set in Brussels irrespective of the views of British parliamentarians and practitioners.

India is an independent country, we have our own policies and future. We have to think about the future of our 125 crore people. There should be no compromise on our interests. We have relations with America in the context of these fundamental points.

Some in the West apparently believe that Poland no longer has its own interests, and that it is all too willing to agree with the opinions of others. This is absolutely not the case. Indeed, other countries in Europe uphold their own interests with great determination.

Germany will always do the minimum to preserve the euro. Doing the minimum, though, will perpetuate the situation where the debtor countries in Europe have to pay tremendous premiums to refinance their debt. The result will be a Europe in which Germany is seen as an imperial power that will not be loved and admired by the rest of Europe - but hated and resisted, because it will perceived as an oppressive power.

We have to work sincerely and responsibly to thwart any attempt to divide the Arab nation into small groups, with which foreign countries would deal separately. This would eventually be in the interests of Zionism, which stands behind such policies, formulating the relevant theories and promoting distorted information to world politicians, especially in the West, in order to make them adopt an approach which is harmful to the Arab nation and is even against the legitimate interests of their own countries.

Europe can only hold together and stand together, which is very important in times of migration challenges, terrorism challenges, if each country takes responsibility for itself.

We have spoken on many occasions of the need to achieve high economic growth as an absolute priority for our country. The annual address for 2003 set for the first time the goal of doubling gross domestic product within a decade.

We can't build a safer world with honorable intentions and good will alone. Achieving the fundamental goals our nation seeks in world affairs - peace, human rights, economics progress national independence and international stability - means supporting our friends and defending our interests.

The reputation of those countries which cater to the foreign policy interests of other states at the expense of their own national interests will go down regardless of how they explain their actions.

We're not obligated to watch ourselves be dissolved away simply because it's not fair that we're so big and powerful. And a lot of people think that it is. And it's not. It's not an obligation. You wouldn't let your own home be treated this way. You wouldn't let your own neighborhood be treated this way. And you don't have to let your own country, either.

There will be no peace in Europe if the States rebuild themselves on the basis of national sovereignty, with its implications of prestige politics and economic protection... The countries of Europe are not strong enough individually to be able to guarantee prosperity and social development for their peoples. The States of Europe must therefore form a federation or a European entity that would make them into a common economic unit.

A democratic Europe of nation states could be a force for liberty, enterprise and open trade. But, if creating a United States of Europe overrides these goals, the new Europe will be one of subsidy and protection

The goals of development are always and everywhere stated in terms of consumer value packages standardized around the North Atlantic-and therefore always and everywhere imply more privileges for a few... Underdevelopment is the result of a state of mind common to both socialist and capitalist countries. Present development goals are neither desirable nor reasonable. Unfortunately antiimperialism is no antidote.