Prague - An ally of eurosceptic Czech President Vaclav Klaus launched a political party that aims to campaign against the European Union's Lisbon Treaty and run in June's European Parliament polls. The party's leading founder Petr Mach, 33, a former aide to the president, chairs the Centre for Economics and Politics, a free- market thinktank founded by Klaus.
Mach said his Free Citizen's Party is not a branch of the pan- European Libertas movement, established by controversial Irish businessman Declan Ganley, but is ready to cooperate with it.
"So far I do not have information that Mr Ganley or Libertas would be determined to independently register (in the Czech Republic) and run for the European Parliament," Mach said, adding that the new party had no financing deal with Ganley.
In line with the views of the president and Ganley, the party founders reject the Lisbon Treaty, stalled since Irish voters rejected it in last June's referendum.
They see the pact, aimed at streamlining the decision-making in the 27-member union, as a bad deal for small EU members and a threat to members' sovereignty.
The founders called on Czech lawmakers to strike down the pact, which the parliament is planned to debate again in February. The Czech Republic is the last EU country yet to vote on the charter.
While Mach said that Klaus did not vow to support the new party, he pointed out that it counts the president's adult sons among its backers.
Another of the party's founders, Czech-British author Benjamin Kuras is considering running for the European parliament. He said that Klaus' backing would be welcome. "I don't think it would hurt. He has a large following in the country."
The new party aims to fill a gap on the political right vacated by Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek's senior ruling Civic Democrats, the founders said.
Five of the six founding committee members are former Civic Democrats unhappy with what they see as Topolanek's shift to the centre.
Klaus, who backed the Libertas grouping during a state visit to Ireland, recently cut his ties with the Civic Democrats, which he founded and led for 12 years. The move led to speculations that he would back a new eurosceptic party prior to the European polls.
Next to eurosceptic views, the new party has a conservative, libertarian streak. It aims to develop nuclear energy and reduce taxes and public spending, the founders said.
