Czech president calls EU climate measures 'tragic mistake'

(BERLIN) - Right-wing Czech President Vaclav Klaus slammed the EU's sweeping new measures to fight climate change as a "tragic mistake" in an interview with a German newspaper on Thursday.

"I believe that our government and others will stand up against these bureaucratic ideas," Klaus told the Handelsblatt business daily.

"This package is without doubt a tragic mistake, a misunderstanding of nature and an unnecessary limitation of human activity," the outspoken Eurosceptic leader added.

"For me it is almost a tragedy."

Klaus has previously compared German Chancellor Angela Merkel's pro-environmental platform to Soviet-era centralised planning and described evidence of global warming as bogus.

He said the measures presented by the European Commission would threaten economic growth and limit personal freedom.

The energy blueprint is designed to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 20 percent by 2020, compared to 1990 levels, by setting targets for industry.

It also stipulates that the use of renewable energies like biomass, wind and solar power have to make up 20 percent of all energy forms by 2020.

The European Union aims to enact the new measures by the spring of 2009.

The Czech Republic is due to hold the rotating EU presidency for the first half of 2009, followed by Sweden.

The Czech parliament will next week begin to elect a new president as Klaus's term expires in March. He faces a challenge from Czech-American professor Jan Svejnar.