Is Topolánek losing it?
In the European Parliament session in Strasbourg on Wednesday, the Czech PM described Barack Obama’s economic crisis measures as a road to hell. The news made a big splash in the foreign media. “The Czech PM is losing control…Czech PM is not acting on behalf of the EU presidency…Czech PM will lose political support if he continues with statements like that…Czech PM violated all diplomatic rules…” we read in the press.
Ok, maybe telling Americans they are going to hell is a bit strong statement given the cultural context. In Czech, a statement like that would not sound as bad. Regardless of how it sounds though the statement suggests the economy stimulus is not a good choice. And that’s certainly not an isolated view. We have received two comments so far which speak against the US stimulus, calling it “a band-aid solution”, “a disaster” and “the road to socialism”. Both of our readers believe the measures will hurt the economy more than help.
“Obama is nothing but a smooth talker who reads the speeches written for him from his teleprompters. He puts on a great show since he knows how to speak well. Don’t be fooled by his speeches and promises because he will deliver nothing of what he promises. I know because he fooled me and my fellow American’s,” a Monitor reader says.
Both of them say Topolánek was correct in his comments and was honest enough to speak the truth. But it contradicts the reports published in the foreign media. And last week’s fall of Topolánek’s government (while holding the rotating EU presidency) only adds to this criticism. “Chaos, uncertainty and fear – this is the condition in which the EU has been in the past two days,” Die Welt described the situation on Thursday. “Now the fate of the united Europe is paradoxically in the hands of its strongest opponent, Václav Klaus, threatened Russia’s Kommersant. Swiss paper Basler Zeitung even called for establishment of EU’s permanent leadership.
Our reader suggests Topolánek and his government should be put back in power to do the job as their voters wanted them to.
- Would you like Topolánek back in power?
- Do you think the Czech government’s fall could have major impacts on the EU?
- Do you believe Obama’s crisis package is “a road to hell”?
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