Czech Republic: Scorn for the European Union

The New York Times (Link) - Steven Erlanger (February 19, 2009)

President Vaclav Klaus, a well-known skeptic about grand ideas for the European Union, on Thursday indirectly compared the union to the former Soviet Union, saying that there was a similar uniformity of thought. There is an “uncriticizable assumption that there is only one possible and correct future of the European integration,” he told the European Parliament in Brussels. “Those who dare thinking about a different option are labeled enemies.” He said that people in Eastern Europe had “lived in a political system that permitted no alternatives” and that “with no opposition, there is no freedom.” He declined to say whether he would sign the Lisbon Treaty, which would create a permanent European president and foreign minister.

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See also: Czech president questions "ever closer" EU political integration