27 March 2012, 17:00 h, Sheraton Hotel, Sofia
On 27 March 2012, at 17:00 h, at the Sheraton Hotel, in Sofia, The Atlantic Club of Bulgaria, the Embassy of the Czech Republic and the publishing houses “East-West” and “MaK”, with the support of the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy, organized presentation of the books “Where Tomorrow Begins” and “The European Integration without Illusions” by H.E. Vсclav Klaus, President of the Czech Republic.
The publishers Luben Kuzarev (“East-West”) and Kalin Manolov (“MaK”) described the Czech President as a Euro-realist with “unsparingly realistic” view towards contemporary Europe.
In his speech, H.E. V. Klaus said that the book “Where Tomorrow Begins” was written as his contribution to the 20th anniversary of the fall of the communism, aiming to show a broader perspective about the world after communism. The chapters called “The Day before Yesterday”, “Yesterday”, “Today” and “Tomorrow” chronologically present the situation during the communism, the time of the transition to democracy, the achievements and the mistakes of capitalism, parliamentary democracy, market economy and the future consequences of present decisions. President Klaus expressed his regret that there was still no deeper analysis of the destructive system during the communism. As a result, nowadays the concept of what was the reality 20 years ago was changed.
The second book “European Integration without Illusions”, which was bestseller in the Czech Republic, debunks the illusions of politics, the character and ideology of the European Union. According to the Czech President, there is a detrimental change between the tendencies of the overall market and liberalization of Europe and the centralization, standardization and supranational government of the EU. President Klaus criticized the non-effective European Social System. “If we want Europe to become a functional power again, important structural changes should be made,” Mr. Klaus said.
Special guests of the event were the former Bulgarian Presidents Zhelyo Zhelev and Georgi Parvanov, as well as the current President Rosen Plevneliev.
