EU, from a skeptic's point of view
Vaclav Klaus, president of the Czech Republic and a free-market economist by training, is a lonely figure among European politicians.
While many of his fellow Euro-pols have championed the drive toward centralization, Klaus has been a skeptic. He fears Czechs could lose some of their newly won freedoms if power migrates to Brussels. And he fears for Europe's economic relations with the United States.
''Instead of building a state of Europe, I would be very happy with a Europe of states," Klaus told an overflow audience at Brandeis University's Shapiro Campus Center last month. ''I do not think the era of nation states is over. I think nation states are the home of democracy."
Klaus, who helped lead his country's post-communist transition from a state-owned economy to private property and free markets, said his ideas were roundly criticized by European leaders at a recent confer in Seville, Spain. There he was told a strong European Union was needed to counter American dominance.
But considering French and Dutch voters rejected the proposed EU constitution this year, Klaus thinks a gap is growing between European citizens and their leaders. He said it's time for a period of reflection before accelerating the move toward centralization.
Relatively few Americans have been paying attention to the debate over European integration, which is raging across the Atlantic. But as Klaus's remarks made clear, how it plays out will have a profound impact on the United States and the emerging global economy.
While he acknowledged the EU ''is here to stay," Klaus criticized some of its continent-wide directives in areas like noise control and cited the excesses of European Commission regulators who reject the mergers of US-based multinationals or require Microsoft to unbundle its Internet browser from its Windows operating system. Such moves are more about creating roadblocks for American business than promoting competition and economic vitality in Europe, he contended.
Klaus also poked fun at the European Parliament, which he described as so cavernous that its members need binoculars to look across the hall at one another.
''In this parliament, I don't think the 24 Czech representatives can influence anything important," Klaus said. ''The decisions are made not by us, but in a rather remote city where our voices are hardly heard."
The visit by a head of state, a rarity for any university, was considered a coup for Brandeis and its International Business School, which sponsored the event. Klaus accepted an invitation from Stephen Cecchetti, a professor of international finance and economics, who had met him while lecturing in Prague. At a private luncheon for the Czech president, university president Jehuda Reinharz noted that the town of Brandeis, about 20 kilometers north of Prague in the Czech Republic, was the ancestral home of Louis Dembitz Brandeis, the US Supreme Court justice for whom the Waltham university is named.
Despite the warm reception for Klaus at Brandeis, not everyone agreed that the emergence of a united Europe poses a threat to the United States. Cecchetti, in fact, suggested the deepening integration of Europe may prove a boon for the US economy.
''Centralization makes them less flexible," he said. ''In economic terms, the less flexible they are, the more flexible we are."
Brandeis, meanwhile, realized one concrete economic benefit from the visit of Klaus and his Czech entourage. Chancellor Jiri Weigl, Klaus's chief of staff who lives in the town of Brandeis, made a quick trip to the university's gift shop to buy Brandeis T-shirts and other souvenirs to take home to his family.
Robert Weisman can be reached at weisman@globe.com. 
