The present President of the European Union, Vaclav Klaus from the Czech Republic addresses the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
The present President of the European Union, Vaclav Klaus from the Czech Republic addresses the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Davos/New York (meaus) Czech President Vaclav Klaus took aim at climate change campaigner Al Gore in Davos, Switzerland in a frontal attack on the new religion of global warming.
"I don't think that there is any global warming," said the 67-year-old liberal, whose country holds in 2009 the rotating presidency of the European Union. "I don't see the statistical data for that."
Referring to the former US vice president, who attended the Davos conference this year, he added: "I'm very sorry that some people like Al Gore are not ready to listen to the competing theories. I do listen to them.
"Environmentalism and the global warming alarmism is challenging our freedom. Al Gore is an important person in this movement."
Speaking at the World Economic Forum, he said that he was more worried about the reaction to the perceived dangers than the consequences.
"I'm afraid that the current crisis will be misused for radically constraining the functioning of the markets and market economy all around the world," he said.
"I'm more afraid of the consequences of the crisis than the crisis itself." Klaus makes no secret of his climate change scepticism--he is also a fierce critic of the European Union--and has branded the world's top panel of climate experts, the UN's IPCC, a smug monopoly.
© PROMETHEUS 140/2009
PROMETHEUS, Internet Bulletin - News, Politics, Art and Science. Nr. 140, February, 2009