Oops

According to Europolitics, Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek has let slip to the European Parliament that he thinks the Lisbon Treaty is "worse" than the Nice Treaty.

This is the man, don't forget, who is pushing for ratification of the Treaty, while the Czech President opposes it.

He said:

"Personally, I find that it is a bit worse than the Nice Treaty", but "I negotiated this text on behalf of the Czech Republic, we approved it, I signed it and I will vote for it; however, the fact of telling all member states that they are obliged to ratify a document and that they do not have the right to decide for themselves is quite absurd".

He added: "if a referendum were to take place in the Czech Republic, according to all indications, it would also not pass".

Eurpolitics writes: "Later, having understood that he had gone too far, the EU's president in office explained that he was just kidding at that he just wanted to say that this treaty 'should not be forced upon the Union'."

He said: "There was some very harsh criticism of Václav Klaus, but I am proud of him, he is the icon of the economic transformation of our country. If the EU loses its capacity to hold a civilised political debate, if we no longer have the capacity to freely express our opinions, this will no longer be the Europe that I am fond of".

UK Lib Dem MEP Graham Watson responded saying: "Europeans are your friends, if Václav Klaus compares the EU to the Soviet Union, we should not be concerned by it".