Leaders Magazine No 2/2009

Jiří Havel Shadow Minister for Education and Candidate for the European Parliament Photo Paul Pacey We Are More Compact Operational and Stronger Now

Leaders Magazine II 2009 95 Why do you stand in European elections It is quite an odd history I was considering my candidacy about one and half years ago Then I decided not to stand as a candidate The whole thing is a bit improvisation because my party asked me in November 2008 whether I would like to stand in European Parliament elections and even became the leader of the ballot It was not my primary decision in that case I got a flattering offer that cannot be rejected That is why I accepted the nomination When people stand in some elections they usually indicate how sharp elbows they have I told myself that I did not want to show them much That was one of the reasons why I decided not to stand as a candidate one and half years ago What is your programme about During the last year I participated as a member of the presidency of the Party of European Socialists PES in formulating a European programme for the European Parliament elections of which crisis is a central theme On the one hand the programme says that we have to find topics by which we manage to solve the crisis on the other hand we have to find themes where we try to prevent the future crisis so it is prevention It can be seen for example in regulation Furthermore it is the whole concept of economic policy that we have defined as a smart green growth The programme of course covers all topics that belong to big politics There are social themes general legal ones such as questions of equality or freedom and also very important question of equality between men and women There is also one chapter devoted to foreign policy summarizing not only the world trends in foreign policy but also addressing its special problems and issues It might be interesting for a Czech reader that the Czech version of the programme mentions that social democrats are ready to respect the majority will of Czech people for example in the question of radar etc It was not probably easy to formulate a unified election programme for all EU member states The formulation of the European programme was almost a Sisyphean task We launched an Internet discussion on the form of the programme in which thousands of people were involved at the end We also took part in a lot of debates We discussed proposals submitted by the broad public and we had to incorporate various comments and remarks from PES members and activists as well Sometimes it was very difficult to reach a compromise because each party is a bit different However at the end we managed it The negotiations were good in a sense that they helped us enliven the discussion across the individual parties about the social democratic values It is for the first time that the PES will have a unified campaign in all EU member states Why It is very simple Currently the PES is in the European Parliament and wants to continue to be the most compact group Negotiations over our programme helped us find what we want to do at the European level and at home We are not only more compact now but also stronger and more operational In which issues do you want to engage in the European Parliament I am an economist and also teach economics at the Charles University in Prague Recently I have also devoted myself more to education Therefore I would like to focus on economics in the European Parliament Energy I had to deal with for some time in my life and also development and education which are in my opinion economic issues It is not possible today to deal with economics without education and research However at the end you have to serve there where it is necessary and not there where you would like to see yourself So we will see Where do you think European integration should head towards As an economist I would welcome the implementation of a simpler system in a sense that there will be for example only one legal regulation of a certain topic at the European level that would be valid for all EU member states Currently mostly directives and regulations are valid that the EU member states have to respect in their national legal systems This system would also involve less national currencies only the European one respectively In relation to the economic crisis it has been talked about deepening of cooperation between national regulators of the financial sector I support that What about your academic career My academic career has been rather limited recently If am a politician I cannot claim that I objectively explore economics that I am creating It is the contradictio in adjecto I have a part time job at the Faculty now that relates only to pedagogical work In future I would like to stay in touch with the Faculty When I was holding state function I was always on the unpaid leave I assume that if I were elected to the European Parliament it would work similarly On the other hand I would like to teach a bit because it gives you a feedback You talk to a different generation of people who hold the mirror up to you which is very important And if you make a mistake you are to be ashamed before someone whether they are your colleagues or students The Ministry of Education presented a proposal on the reform of tertiary education that aroused great emotions What do you think about it I admit that I have mixed opinions on the proposal on the reform of tertiary education I agree with the authors on a number of analytical starting points that Czech universities swelled up that not all Czech universities have the efficiency and content that we would want etc However we rather importantly diverge in solutions of this issue One of the universities characteristic features is their freedom But it seems that if the proposal is interpreted in a certain way it could affect this area What interpretations I am very much doubtful about the proposal on the management of universities that assumes the establishment of managing councils of which majority of members should be named by politicians Devil is hidden in detail Every instrument can be used or misused It is a moment that is necessary to be dealt with sensitively with the affected academia Every solution that will be adopted has to be discussed first with the academia and reach certain agreement I cannot imagine that the new model of management would be imposed on universities If it is imposed on them they will protest We just have the possibility either to explain it to them or to start the discussion again The proposal on the financial management of universities has been often criticised too The proposal on the financial management of universities is rather complicated On the one hand it says that Czech education is deeply underfinanced On the other hand it does not set any political commitment on what level the universities should be financed from public resources It is an important piece of information It is quite evident that universities should have some longterm prospects of financing Yearly bargaining about the amount of resources is not very dignified The plan says that there will be no money that universities should take from students But when you pose a question how students would pay for it wouldn’t it be perhaps selective you get an answer that the state gives money to students through grants loans and scholarships Then you ask yourself whether it is not easier to give the money directly to universities and thus avoid the rise of administration that the introduction of fees loans and grants will request I cannot fully make up with it and I do not think it is really logical Do you have any political role model Among politicians I admire Poul Nyrup Rasmussen who is the president of the PES and member of the European Parliament He also was Danish Prime Minister for eight years He is the prototype of a well read man man who can superbly find contributing compromise in negotiations When I hear the arguments I would sometimes run away but Poul continues to sit there formulating patiently the compromise proposals explaining the core of the issue and comes to an end It is absolutely amazing If there were something I would like to learn in politics it would be this By Zuzana Kasáková českou verzi naleznete na www leadersmagazine cz An interview with Jiří Havel Shadow Minister of Education and Candidate for the European Parliament Jiří Havel graduated in political economy from the University of Economics in Prague in 1982 where he also started his pedagogical career Since 1991 he has been lecturing at the Institute of Economic Studies Faculty of Social Sciences Charles University in Prague Since 1990s he has been member of statutory bodies of many companies e g Unipetrol Czech Telecom or Aero Vodochody He was member of the Communist Party till 1989 and in 1997 he joined the Czech Social Democratic Party ČSSD Between the years 1999 2001 he held high offi ces at the National Property Fund In July 2005 he became president of the board of trustees of the CEZ company From January to September 2006 he was Deputy Prime Minister for economic issues Now he is the shadow Minister of Education and member of the Party of European Socialists presidency Since December 2008 he has been leader of ČSSD for the European Parliament elections

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