President Tsjechië weigert acte de présence op IGC (en)

Following a meeting with the Czech government representatives to the intergovernmental conference, Vaclav Klaus, the President of the Czech Republic, has decided not to attend the inauguration of the event on Saturday (4 October) in Rome.

Mr Klaus believes that there will not be enough time at the conference to carry out a detailed discussion on the draft EU Constitution. Due to the short time allocated to his expected address, he has decided to leave it up to the prime minister to present the Czech Republic's stance on the EU Constitution once there.

Vaclav Klaus heavily criticised the draft of the EU Constitution in an article entitled "European Constitution - road to superstate?"

The article, published on Monday in the Mladá fronta Dnes, said the Constitution would create a single "super-state", in which Czech people would be left with very little influence.