President criticised at home over meeting

CZECH REACTION:EUROSCEPTIC CZECH president Vaclav Klaus has been strongly criticised in his home country for meeting Lisbon opponent Declan Ganley during his State visit to Ireland.

Czech environment minister Martin Bursik said "the presentation of Klaus's extreme views on climate protection and the EU, including the Lisbon Treaty, is damaging the interests of the Czech Republic."

"Klaus's ultra-conservative personal opinions, which he promotes regardless of his constitutional post, create an unrealistic picture of the Czech Republic."

Czechs are used to Mr Klaus (67) issuing blunt denunciations of things he opposes, most frequently Lisbon, the euro and the environmentalist lobby. But his vocal opposition to Lisbon, which he declared dead after Ireland's No vote, is of increasing concern to many Czech and EU politicians as Prague prepares to take on the rotating EU presidency in January.

Fears that the Czech presidency could be undermined by the country's failure to adopt the treaty have prompted the ruling Civic Democrats and the opposition Social Democrats to declare a truce on the issue. But Mr Klaus's critics believe his exploits in Ireland were part of an effort to use this lull to boost his own standing.

"Klaus has extended the battle against his own government to the international level," said education minister Ondrej Liska. "While dialogue with the opposition in parliament could be established, to achieve joint success with the EU presidency, the president seems to take quite the opposite view."

Commenting on Mr Klaus's meeting with Mr Ganley, analyst Vladimira Dvorakova noted that he had very limited formal powers. "The president should not have his own foreign activities that are not in line with the government's programme," she said.

The Czech constitutional court must rule on the treaty's legality before both houses of parliament vote on whether to ratify it, but Mr Klaus successfully requested a postponement of the court's final hearing, which was due to take place while he was in Ireland. He is set to address the rescheduled hearing on November 25th.