Word: klaus
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...have asked Russia and Ukraine to do everything they can to avoid such crises. It would not be good for the overall climate of relations if such a crisis happened again." Barroso was part of a delegation that included E.U. foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Czech President Vaclav Klaus, whose country holds the E.U. presidency. (Read: "Vaclav Klaus: "The Man with the E.U.'s Fate in His Hands...
...Klaus' track record shows that he is capable of fighting his crusades to the bitter end, to which Petr Langer's story bears testimony. In 2005, Klaus, who as president installs all of the country's judges, refused to appoint 32 judges, including Langer, saying they were too young. But Klaus' decision at the time had no ground in legislation and Langer, now 31, sued the head of state. The courts have since ruled in Langer's favor, but the president, who can't be punished for anything other than treason, has so far refused to install...
Meanwhile, people familiar with how Klaus thinks believe that he will give the Lisbon Treaty a last-minute backing. "He will go to the very brink, but he will sign it in the end," says Jan Strasky, a former Czechoslovak premier who has known Klaus for over four decades and once shared an office with him. "He has a control mechanism. He leaves the barricade when it becomes indefensible." In a sign that he may not intend to kill the reform pact outright, Klaus gave up a chance to chair the E.U.'s June summit in Brussels, at which...
...Klaus plans to sign the treaty eventually, why create all this fuss? His friends and his enemies alike say that a combination of two traits feeds his passion for going against the flow: he yearns for the limelight and he views himself as infallible. Even during the communist era, an informer spying on Klaus as he took part in informal economics discussions described him as an abrasive know-it-all. "He makes it clear that who does not go along with his ideas and opinions is simply stupid and incompetent," reads Klaus' secret police file. In team sports, former Czechoslovak...
...Klaus' critics add that his long-standing rivalry with acclaimed former President Vaclav Havel, the icon of anti-communist resistance, has only reinforced his desire to make a mark. Klaus has been in office for six years, but people still confuse him with Havel, accidentally calling him by his predecessor's name. "He will never have Havel's standing but he wants to show: 'I am here too,'" says Jan Ruml, an ex-politician who fell out with Klaus in the 1990s. "He wants to make history, [even if] negatively. He does not care." (Read "Freed from Power, Havel Mocks...