It seems to me like it was yesterday... Eight years ago – through the Margaret Thatcher Foundation (a link to the website here) - I congratulated the now-late Margaret Thatcher on her eighties birthday. The congratulation included also my article, published in the Czech Republic, translated into English.
Chris Collins, who covered PR activities of the website of the Margaret Thatcher Foundation, sent me a helpful reply, asking me to connect their website with the portal of Václav Klaus, who held the office of president of the CzechRepublic at that time and whose admiration of Margaret Thatcher was very well known. The affection was mutual. I presented this wish of Mr. Collins to PragueCastle authorities. And, as you can see yourself here, Václav Klaus was the only European president, who was and still is mentioned on their website.
I had an opportunity to meet the "Iron Lady", although of course in the presence of a lot of other persons. So like whenever you know someone, at least for a while, personally, I grieved her death enormously.
Dear Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven,
You were one of the most important personalities of not only British, but also world history, who always and under any circumstances stood her ground.
An extract from the article I wrote on the occasion of the eighties birthday of Margaret Thatcher:
In 1990, Newsweek published an article entitled "Thatcherism is not for a decade. It is for centuries". The "God", who Margaret Thatcher has always held onto - i.e. the principle that every asset belongs to somebody and somebody has to take good care of it, and the more particular this owner is,
the better the result - will always have to hold true. The institute of ownership is a basic institute. It contains in itself everything that is "holy" to a modern and educated man. Primarily, the problem of acquiring property has its own culture. It is absolutely clearly defined how it is
possible to acquire property.
In Margaret Thatcher one must admit the traits of a strong personality, but also a personality respecting all of the attributes of real democracy. In all domains of social life, and especially in economics, the basic rules of behaviour must be observed by everyone so that chaos does not set in. However, the personality must not be suppressed, or better said the
individual or corporation must always have space for market behaviour in the good sense of the word. In order for the state to function well, it must transfer the maximum burden of responsibility to particular individuals. For the most part, Margaret Thatcher achieved this. Restoring the personality's
economic, proper market behaviour is her priceless merit for the whole civilised world.
The article in Czech version can be found here
Dr. Jan Vinter is renowned consultant in the field of domestic and international banking, business and politics. He worked for several international banks (Mitsubishi Bank, Citibank, ABN AMRO Bank, Erste Bank) in various managerial positions. At the political level he is closely linked to all its constitutional parts – Government, Parliament, political parties, President etc. He also lectures at the department of International Law and Relations at Charles University Law Faculty in Prague. He wrote many articles Re: economic, historical and social topics. These articles were published both in the Czech Republic and abroad. (jan.vinter@volny.cz)
