Nigel Farage's Diary

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• Flying the UKIP flag in Buckingham
• The battle of Lisbon begins
• In the EU's Britain, no good deed goes unpunished
• Vaclav Klaus: the man of the moment
• Something to cheer about at the EP!
• A girl called Hannah
• Britain, the EU and the Dalai Lama
• No time for a novice Trade Commissioner
• Crisis management Brussels-style

Vaclav Klaus: the man of the moment

Thursday, 5th March 2009

For the first time ever the Independence and Democracy Group was formally invited to the Czech Republic to hold a seminar at the Senate and to meet the President, Vaclav Klaus. He is the only senior political figure in Europe on our wavelength.

The Parliament building is very impressive, 17th century and beautifully decorated. The afternoon was spent discussing the vexed question of the Sudetenland property rights. Some fear that under the Charter of Fundamental Rights, the European Court of Justice could rule that properties would go back to German pre-1945 owners.

In these parts of Europe the Second World War is not over. Various members of the EU Affairs Committee spoke, along with some prominent lawyers: as the Senate will vote on the Lisbon Treaty next month, our debate was timely. Some said that the risk was very real, others that the EU was a benign force and there was nothing to fear.

My conclusion was that no one really knows, but why on earth would you take the risk, given that the ECJ is a political court and that some German politicians are demanding that there should be a test case post-ratification?

In the evening, the IndDem Group hosted a dinner for Senate members and local journalists. Our Czech colleague Vladimir Zetezny MEP provided five different wines from his vineyards, which was greatly appreciated.

President Klaus with Nigel Farage at Prague Castle

On Wednesday morning after breakfast (sadly the Continental variety), we headed up the hill to Prague Castle. As head of the Group, I was the first to be introduced to the President. There were huge numbers of cameras and journalists present. Last year, European Parliament President Hans-Gert Pöttering came to see Mr Klaus, but the Czech President refused to meet him. Our own warm welcome did not pass unnoticed! I introduced myself as the leader of the opposition voice in Brussels – President Klaus seemed to like that.

We sat down to talk and I thanked the President for his speech in Brussels the other day. He remarked that tens of thousands of e-mails and messages had been received since the, with 80% supporting Mr Klaus's view of the EU. He bemoaned the fact that the current political class in the EU was not representing the views of the people and urged us to redouble our efforts  in this year's European elections.

Mr Klaus's opposition to the Lisbon Treaty is firm and principled and the Czech Republic cannot ratify the treaty without his signature, which is very good news. I said there was a prospect that if David Cameron were to become our next prime minister there was a possibility that the UK could hold a referendum. Mr Klaus was utterly dismissive of this idea: he does not believe Mr Cameron to be Eurosceptic at all.

The meeting ended with President Klaus calling for unity among all those opposed to this EU. Throughout there was no doubt about who was in charge. It was one of the few times I have had the feeling of being in the presence of greatness. We posed for some group photographs and then Mr Klaus was off to attend to the affairs of state, but one of his two aides stopped to talk to me.

"We love your speeches in the European Parliament," he said. "You are the number one – keep going."

I was pleased with that.

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