Klaus calls Havel extreme leftist destroying order - press

Klaus calls the ideology of his predecessor "Havlism" and he compares it to the echoes of the French Jacobinism in the interview.

Havel (1936-2011) wanted to establish "elitist post-democracy" instead of democracy and he called the market "a grocery store," Klaus told Rzeczy, LN writes.

"However, I should probably also mention his cosmopolitism in opposition to my trust in the state where we are living. But it was also aggressive foreign-political interventionism (and humanitarian bombing), instead of respect for any country of the world," LN cites Klaus speaking about Havel´s stances in the interview.

It has not been the first of Klaus´s sharp words on the late Havel.

Klaus has called a book by his office deputy head Petr Hajek entitled Death in the Velvet almost a compulsory reading. Hajek in his book writes that Havel was a tool of lies and hatred.

On the other hand, in his speech at Havel´s funeral on December 23, 2011, Klaus said along with Havel, a president, politician, intellectual and artist had left whom the nation would remember with gratitude, esteem and respect.

"We are not a big nation, due to which we do not have many great personalities. But still it has often happened to us that their work and legacy was twisted and deformed," Klaus said then.

Havel, playwright and dissident, was Czechoslovak president after the collapse of the communist regime from December 1989 to 1992 and Czech president in 1993-2003. After he left the post he primarily focused on the promotion of human rights in the world. He died on December 18, 2011 aged 75 years.

Klaus was elected president in early 2003 and re-elected five years later. His second and last possible term in office expires on March 7.

Author: ČTK
www.ctk.cz