Czech president and Irish No camp hold victory banquet
By Lisbeth Kirk
Czech President Vaclav Klaus ends a three-day official visit to Ireland on Wednesday (12 November), a trip marked by a great deal more controversy than most trips by heads of state to Dublin.
The Irish government is still struggling to find answers to satisfy both Irish voters and other governments in the European Union after a majority of people voted down the Lisbon treaty in a referendum in June.
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"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. This combination will not be easy to achieve, but I am determined to do so," Irish Taoiseach Brian Cowen declared on the first day of the state visit.
The Irish leader is expected to come up with a proposal for a solution at the EU summit in December, just one month from now. Meanwhile, a special committee of the Irish parliament is still busy organising hearings to figure out why the majority of the Irish voted No.
With the Czech republic taking over the EU presidency from January 2009, Prague will be tasked to find a solution to the Lisbon treaty stalemate. But the country itself has not yet ratified the text, with a decision of the Constitutional Court expected on 25 November and the president so far refusing to sign the treaty.
"This state visit was planned long ago, and before the referendum on the Lisbon treaty had even taken place," the Czech head of state pointed out at a press conference in Dublin on Tuesday (11 November).
"Changes have been going on in the European Union, in radical shifts going from integration to unification, from inter-governmentalism to supranationalism," Vaclav Klaus said, adding that the Lisbon treaty was accelerating the shifts.
"We have the feeling - some of us - that it is not adding to positive development in Europe and that democracy and freedom are not to be enhanced by the ratification of the Lisbon treaty. To the contrary."
President Klaus said he had followed with great interest the referendums in Ireland in 2008 and in France and the Netherlands in 2005, all ending with the majority of the electorate rejecting new EU treaties.
"Because of our Communist past, we are extremely sensitive about the idea of freedom and democracy, perhaps even over sensitive," he admitted.
"We are part of Europe and have always been. We have no other chance than to participate in European integration ... What we are talking about is the internal development of the European Union. You can have different views on how to organise the Union and what competences move from Dublin or Prague to Brussels. That is the issue of the day."
Malcontents' dinner
The Irish government hosting the visit had made no secret of their discontent that Mr Klaus accepted an invitation to dine with the leaders of the Irish No campaign while he was in Ireland.
At the invitation of one of the No groups, Libertas leader Declan Ganley, some 80 people celebrated the referendum result at the fashionable Shelbourne Hotel in central Dublin. Among the guests were the leader of the French right-wing party Mouvement Pour La France, Philippe de Villiers, and Austrian independent MEP, Hans-Peter Martin.
President Klaus and Mr Ganley held a joint press conference in the Constitutional Room at the hotel, where the first constitution for a free Irish state was drafted in 1922. Some of the drafts written on an old-style typewriter can be studied in the room, with corrections of the texts showing how difficult drafting treaties was at the time.
The Czech president denied breaching protocol by meeting Mr Ganley and his campaigners during the official state visit.
"During two days with official representatives of the Irish government, no one mentioned this meeting. It is a creation of part of the media, seeing a problem," President Klaus said.
Mr Ganley added that French President Sarkozy had not been criticised for meeting No camp representatives when he visited Ireland earlier in the year.
Libertas speculation
Declan Ganley recently registered his group, Libertas, as a political party under Irish law, with speculation growing that he might run a list in the upcoming European Parliament elections in June 2009.
"Libertas is in active discussion with people in many countries sharing our views," the group's leader said.
"June 2009 might be an opportunity to give people the European referendum they have not had," he hinted, holding back however from offering further details.
Asked whether he would support such a pan-European political initiative, Vaclav Klaus said he would not join any such movement as president of his country.
"But if Mr Ganley wins the European elections I will be the first one to congratulate him."