'Supporters of European integration are just like communists of the Soviet-era', says Czech President19th February 2009
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1150139/Supporters-European-integration-just-like-communists-Soviet-era-says-Czech-President.htmlCzech President Vaclav Klaus today compared supporters of greater European Union integration to Soviet-era communists. The controversial Lisbon Treaty, meant to streamline the bloc's creaking institutions, would only make things worse, he said.
In his attack, delivered at the European Parliament in Brussels, he branded the
EU an undemocratic and elitist project comparable to Soviet dictatorships that forbade free thought. He added: 'Here in the European Parliament there is only one single alternative, and those who dare think about a different option are labelled as enemies of European integration.'
Klaus has long been one of the most strident critics of the EU and is refusing to fly its flag over his official seat in Prague during the six-month Czech presidency.
'Not so long ago in our part of Europe we lived in a political system that allowed no alternative and therefore no parliamentary opposition,' Klaus said, referring to the communist regimes that fell in 1989. 'Here (in the European Parliament) there is only one single alternative, and those who dare think about a different option are labelled as enemies of European integration.'
Klaus said he rejected the 'uncriticisable assumption that there is only one possible and correct future of ... deeper and deeper integration'. He said that although he believed there was no alternative to EU membership for the Czechs, EU integration could take many different forms.
The outspoken president repeated his criticism of the Lisbon treaty on institutional reform and refused to say whether he would sign it.
Klaus also criticised the EU's response to the economic crisis and said the bloc needed less regulation, not more.
