Klaus tries to persuade Merkel of change of EU heading

Berlin, Jan 9 (CTK) - Vaclav Klaus, on his last visit to Germany in his capacity as Czech president, Wednesday tried to persuade Chancellor Angela Merkel to direct the European Union from further integration that he himself has long criticised, he told Czech journalists.

"How could I have missed the opportunity. You know well that it is the main theme of my life," Klaus said.

He said Merkel knows it too well and that she herself picked the theme.

Merkel, unlike Klaus, considers the continued tightening of cooperation between the EU and the euro zone states an instrument with which to overcome the current crisis in the currency union.

Germany is also one of the main motors of the effort in the EU.

Klaus, known for his Euro scepticism, did not say whether he succeeded in persuading Merkel, but he said he donated her the German translation of his book on the EU, "European Integration Without Illusions".

"She promised to read it at the weekend, she said it is not that long and thick and that she will definitely give it time," Klaus said.

Klaus also met his German counterpart Joachim Gauck and Bundestag President Norbert Lammert.

He said the German politicians were mainly interested in the forthcoming first direct presidential election in the Czech Republic.

"The President of the Bundestag unequivocally told me that Germany would not make such a mistake as holding the direct election, that it would completely disrupt the whole German constitutional system. I think the same about ours, that is why I was listening with interest to his sharp reaction," Klaus said.

The Czechs will choose their president in a direct election for the first time later this month. The first round will be held on Friday and Saturday, a possible second round two weeks later.

Klaus's second and last five-year term expires in March.

In the Klaus-Gauck meeting, Gauck was dispelling fears of the EU while Klaus avoided the theme and concentrated on the good level of Czech-German relations.

He spoke about Germany as an important trade partner and ally of the Czech Republic and recalled Gauck's visit to the Czech Republic last October.

Gauck visited the central Bohemian village of Lidice, that was razed to the ground by the Nazis in 1942 and its inhabitants were either executed or sent for re-education in Germany, as the first German head of state in history.

Klaus said Gauck's visit showed that "a visit by the head of state need not only be a matter of courtesy, but it can give new impulses."

Klaus also reacted for Czech journalists to a recent statement by Saxon Interior Minister Markus Ulbig and to German media reports that the amnesty he declared recently may raise the crime rate along the joint border.

"It is absurd, funny, childish and really undignified to talk about it seriously," Klaus said.