The two rebel Civic Democrat MPs, Vlastimil Tlustý and Jan Schwippel, who voted against their party to topple the government in last Tuesday's no-confidence vote are back in the headlines. This Thursday, both men announced their candidature for the eurosceptic party Libertas.cz ahead of June's European elections. I spoke to former finance minister Vlastimil Tlustý about what made him vote against Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek's cabinet, and why, despite representing Libertas.cz at the polls, he had decided to remain a member of the Civic Democratic Party: ...Can I ask you about the funding of Libertas.cz - who is funding this party? "I am not informed. The proposal to be a candidate dates from last Friday, and to be frank, I don't know." Are you worried about now being a candidate for a one-issue party. The Civic Democrats have clear views on social reforms, healthcare reforms and so on, while Libertas.cz doesn't just yet? "I am not worried. Look at the Civic Democrats today. They do nothing, no reforms at all. They destroyed not only tax reforms but also pension reforms and healthcare reforms and so on. I am sure that I will actually have more chance to represent the original programme of the Civic Democrats in Libertas than in the Civic Democratic Party itself."
...Can I ask you about the funding of Libertas.cz - who is funding this party? "I am not informed. The proposal to be a candidate dates from last Friday, and to be frank, I don't know." Are you worried about now being a candidate for a one-issue party. The Civic Democrats have clear views on social reforms, healthcare reforms and so on, while Libertas.cz doesn't just yet? "I am not worried. Look at the Civic Democrats today. They do nothing, no reforms at all. They destroyed not only tax reforms but also pension reforms and healthcare reforms and so on. I am sure that I will actually have more chance to represent the original programme of the Civic Democrats in Libertas than in the Civic Democratic Party itself."
The cowardly EU « Europe not EU
I am back from my holidays and a blogging hiatus to find that EU finds it easier to rally behind a mindless G20 Obama love-in on fiscal and bank bailouts than it is to hold a summit on preserving jobs. EU heads of state and government have decided to run away from cancel a Prague meeting, originally scheduled for May 7, which aimed to bring together national leaders with businesses and trade unions. Only last week, the European Commission President José Manuel Barroso was insisting that it would be a "fundamental error" not to hold the summit. "Our public opinion would not understand, it would be unacceptable that EU leaders meet at the highest level and that they discuss the problems of the banks and not social problems. That they discuss the problems of the financial sector and not that of employment. That would be really unacceptable," he said on Mar 18.
I am back from my holidays and a blogging hiatus to find that EU finds it easier to rally behind a mindless G20 Obama love-in on fiscal and bank bailouts than it is to hold a summit on preserving jobs.
EU heads of state and government have decided to run away from cancel a Prague meeting, originally scheduled for May 7, which aimed to bring together national leaders with businesses and trade unions.
Only last week, the European Commission President José Manuel Barroso was insisting that it would be a "fundamental error" not to hold the summit.
"Our public opinion would not understand, it would be unacceptable that EU leaders meet at the highest level and that they discuss the problems of the banks and not social problems. That they discuss the problems of the financial sector and not that of employment. That would be really unacceptable," he said on Mar 18.
(Mr. Waterfield still liberally mixes the EU and its institutions and constituting national governments.) *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
Fiscal conservatives will make the recession worse. Most economists teach a theoretical framework that has been shown to be fundamentally useless. -- James K. Galbraith
Which kind of dodges the question of what to do about this crisis.
There have been no substantial policy proposals from Europe since Obama got elected, everyone's been waiting for him to solve the crisis.
There have been consistent calls by France and Germany to regulate capitalism better and crack down on tax haven (mostly grandstanding from Sarkozy, I'll grant, but the German drive has been serious enough).
There's been a pushback on deficit spending, and more generally there has been very little criticism of how the ECB has handled the crisis on its side, which is a stark change from usual practice in big parts of Europe.
Brown has been forced to choose sides (symbolically anyway) and seems to have sided on the European side. That's pretty significant too. In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
