Czech leader vows Lisbon will not be fast-tracked

EUROSCEPTIC Czech president Václav Klaus yesterday bluntly warned the Taoiseach his country would not fast-track the Lisbon treaty when it takes over the EU in January.

On the first day of an unusually tense state visit to Ireland Mr Klaus, who has previously called for the abolition of the EU, insisted “Lisbon as fast as possible” would not be the Czech priority.

Mr Klaus had already angered the Government with his decision to have dinner with Libertas leader Declan Ganley — who he described as a “fellow European dissident” — during his three-day visit.

The maverick Czech president’s views will assume disproportionate diplomatic weight when his country takes over the rotating six- monthly presidency of the EU in the new year.

Mr Klaus was the first EU leader to pronounce the Lisbon treaty dead after Irish voters turned against it in the divisive June referendum.

Brian Cowen used a lunch with the president to insist Ireland was determined to find a solution to the Lisbon impasse, with next month’s EU heads of government meeting seen as pivotal.

The Taoiseach said he would return to the issue in December with a view to “defining the elements of a solution and a common path to be followed”.

“We are determined, therefore, to find a solution with regard to the Lisbon treaty within a reasonable timeframe.

“However, it is imperative that we find the right solution. This means that we must find ways of allaying the concerns raised by the Irish people. We must do so, however, in a manner that proves acceptable to our EU partners,” he said.

Mr Klaus courted controversy in September when he pledged to support Mr Ganley’s launch of Libertas as a pan-EU political party.

Mr Klaus has previously branded the EU as a “failed and bankrupt entity”.

The Czech Republic is one of only four nations that have so far failed to ratify the Lisbon treaty along with Sweden, Poland and Ireland.

Mr Cowen was determined to put a positive spin on the visit, citing the €1bn in trade between the two countries and noting the fact that 10,000 Czech’s had settled in Ireland since the central European country joined the union in 2005.

Mr Klaus also met President Mary McAleese privately after a ceremonial welcome which included an honour guard, 21-gun salute and Air Corps flypast.

A Foreign Affairs Department spokesperson said there was no “official” complaint about Mr Klaus’s meeting with Mr Ganley, but the issue did feature in pre-visit talks.

The Taoiseach and Government ministers have repeatedly questioned where Libertas obtained funding for its successful referendum campaign, which the Government insisted was based on disinformation.