EUROSCEPTICS:THREE MEMBERS of French Eurosceptic party Mouvement pour la France (MPF) are willing to stand as candidates for the anti-Lisbon Treaty Libertas party in next year's European Parliament elections.
In an interview with Radio France, MPF leader and MEP Philippe de Villiers said that he was prepared to run for election as a Libertas candidate.
"I'm at the disposal of Declan Ganley to enable this large pan-European movement to be present in France, and if he chooses me as one of his representatives, I would be very glad to accept," Mr de Villiers said.
The MPF leader attended a dinner hosted by Mr Ganley in honour of Czech president Vaclav Klaus in Dublin on Tuesday night.
The party played a leading role in campaigning against the European constitution in the 2005 French referendum.
Christophe Beaudouin, a French lawyer and member of the MPF, said that he and Patrick Louis, another of the party's three MEPs, would also be willing to run as Libertas candidates.
"If Declan wants that, and I think he does, then we are willing to follow him," Mr Beaudouin told The Irish Times.
A spokesman for Libertas would only say that the party was at "an advanced stage" in talks with the MPF about aligning itself to Libertas' planned pan-European party.
Meanwhile, the president of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Klaus, continued his controversial visit to Ireland yesterday when he shrugged off criticism of his public expressions of support for Libertas.
Mr Klaus was asked by reporters in Cork yesterday about Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin's description of his comments as an "inappropriate intervention".
The Irish media had been refused access to Mr Klaus during a courtesy call to visit Cork City Hall but when questioned on Patrick Street about Mr Martin's remarks, Mr Klaus said that he hadn't heard Mr Martin's interview.
"I didn't hear anything like that - I don't want to exaggerate the reaction and counter reactions," said Mr Klaus as he was shepherded towards the English Market by members of his entourage flanked by gardaí.
Asked repeatedly what he thought of Mr Martin's comments, Mr Klaus responded: "Inappropriate as regards to what, as regards to the freedom - excuse me, I didn't visit someone who is against the State, I visited someone who is just opposing the Government."
Mr Klaus had planned to give a short media briefing to Czech journalists during his visit to the English Market, but he opted not to speak to the Czech journalists and instead simply posed for some photos with stallholders during his 15-minute tour of the market.