A Marriage of Convenience

Civitas, 23 September 2008

Czech president Václav Klaus has said he will support Declan Ganley if he launches Libertas (the organisation which led the campaign for Ireland to vote ‘No’ to the Lisbon Treaty) as a pan-EU political party at the next European Parliament elections in 2009.
Ganley has said that he intends to transform the 2009 EP election into an ‘EU-wide referendum on the Lisbon Treaty’, therefore Klaus’ pronouncement of support could be a serious worry for Lisbon Treaty supporters because when the EP election is held in early June 2009 the Czech Republic will hold the rotating EU Presidency.

Czech Republic’s ratification of the Lisbon Treaty is currently suspended whilst the country’s Constitutional Court considers the Treaty’s legality; a ruling is expected in October. However, opinion on the Lisbon Treaty is split; Czech Prime Minister, Topolanek has urged a change to the Constitution if the court rules that it clashes with the Lisbon Treaty whilst his party, the Civic Democrat’s, are divided on this pledge.
In having the support of Václav Klaus, the ‘No to the Lisbon Treaty’ campaign will have the support of a prominent euro sceptic (in 2005 President Klaus stated publically that he believes the EU should be abandoned and replaced with a free-trade area).
Klaus’ holding the top job in the EU, during the period of the election will be hugely significant because the rotating Presidency provides a chance for individual member states to influence the direction of the 27-member European Union. The likelihood is that the Czech Presidency of the EU will be far more euro sceptic than the current French Presidency. For example the Czech Presidency’s first promotional video featured celebrities dissolving sugar cubes in coffee and included a puzzling promise to “sweeten” the EU – commentators have pointed out that sugar cubes are a Czech invention. One interpretation has been that the ad indicates Klaus’ ‘prediction that the EU would dissolve the Czech Republic’. However a second interpretation has been that the Czech Presidency intends to “make it sweet” for Europe, that is to “give it a hard time”.
The Czech government is eager to make an impact during its Presidency, as evidenced in it already having released the priorities for its Presidency. With the motto ‘Europe without barriers’, the Czech Presidency will emphasise the rights for workers from newer states and preside over an EU-US summit, possible enabling a route to closer ties with the USA.
In addition the Czech leadership has also pledged to ‘concentrate on best practise’ and ‘repeal bad laws rather than pass new laws’ – priorities which also criticise the EU. Cutting bureaucracy is currently a recurring theme in EU politics, for example three leading European papers – The Sun (UK), Bild (Germany), Fakt (Poland) – are hosting an EU-sponsored questionnaire about EU bureaucracy in which readers with the best anti-bureaucracy recommendation will win a prize.
However, the Ganley-Klaus alliance is not a straightforward union of euro-scepticism, because Declan Ganley has repeatedly emphasised that he is not a euro-sceptic; he is a Lisbon Treaty sceptic. (See previous blog post for an exposition of Ganley’s views).
In the complicated realm of EU politics this is another alliance of convenience and colliding interests, rather than a mutual union of genuine consensus. However, for the Libertas campaign to be a success, Ganley will need to mobilise genuine support, and do so across the Union, and most importantly run a very clear campaign. Voters will have enough trouble differentiating his position from euro scepticism and the support of a prominent euro-sceptic will surely muddy the waters further.