Czech president jibes at Van Rompuy over title (Roundup)

Jan 29, 2010, 14:41 GMT

Prague - Czech President Vaclav Klaus, an opponent of the European Union's deeper integration, made a jibe at European President Herman Van Rompuy before their meeting in Prague Friday, saying he doesn't know what title to use to address him.

The position of full-time EU president was created under the bloc's so-called Lisbon Treaty, which Klaus opposed.

'Somebody asked me in a text message how I will address him. I don't know,' Klaus said at a briefing televised on the CT24 news channel prior to the meeting. 'I still have to figure that out.'

It was not immediately known how the Czech president solved the riddle, as he spoke too softly when greeting Van Rompuy before cameras.

Speaking in Czech to reporters at a joint briefing earlier on Friday, Prime Minister Jan Fischer referred to the new EU official as 'the president of the European Union.'

Klaus and his Polish counterpart, Lech Kaczynski, prefer to use the word chairman to describe Van Rompuy's job. Being opponents of turning the 27-member bloc into what Klaus bills a superstate, they have said that the word president should apply to heads of state.

Van Rompuy is ending in Prague his introductory tour of the EU capitals. Before meeting Klaus, he held talks with Fischer on the EU's economic strategy, which is to dominate the bloc's extraordinary summit on February 11.

The EU president said that they also spoke about 'the lessons' of the 'rather disappointing' Copenhagen climate change conference, where world leaders failed to strike a deal on curbing emissions of the so-called greenhouse gases believed to be heating up the planet.

Speaking at the televised briefing earlier on Friday, Klaus said that he does not plan to discuss his eurosceptic views with 'this high representative of the European Union.'

Van Rompuy took office on December 1, when the Lisbon Treaty entered into force. He remained in the background until January 1, letting the Swedish presidency of the EU finish its job under the pre-Lisbon Treaty system.