President Klaus, known for his eurosceptic views and vocal opposition to the Lisbon Treaty (EurActiv 27/10/08), previously met Ganley in July, when he offered to help him launch his anti-Lisbon platform 'Libertas' as a pan-European party.
The Czech president's meeting with Ganley comes at a sensitive moment in the ongoing Lisbon Treaty ratification saga, with the Irish government expected to present its "roadmap" for a solution to the Lisbon crisis at the December EU Council summit in Brussels.
Irish officials told EurActiv of their strong discontent over the meeting, describing it as "very disappointing". "It serves to add a dubious legitimacy to Declan Ganley's platform at a sensitive time for Ireland-EU relations," the sources said.
Libertas has become the subject of a number of allegations in Dublin and Brussels, primarily over alleged irregularities in the financing of its 'No' campaign against the Lisbon Treaty (EurActiv 26/09/08).
Meanwhile, the Czech Republic, which assumes the EU presidency from France in January 2009, has a Lisbon-related dilemma of its own. Last week, the Czech constitutional court postponed its own ruling on the constitutionality of the Lisbon Treaty after a personal intervention by President Klaus.
This means that in all likelihood, the Czech government will not manage to ratify the treaty before the beginning of its presidency as it had hoped.
In a further twist, Mayor of Prague Pavel Bem - who recently announced that he would contest the leadership of the ruling Civic Democrats (ODS) during the party's December congress - this week proclaimed his opposition to Lisbon ratification. Like President Klaus, it is believed that Mayor Bem considers the treaty to be a "dead document".
Czech officials were unavailable for comment yesterday.
