Eurosceptic Czech President Vaclav Klaus will lead the European Union delegation at an EU-Japan summit on May 4 organised under Prague's six-month bloc chairmanship, Klaus's office said Friday.
"(Japanese) Prime Minister Taro Aso will lead the Japanese delegation," while European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso and its foreign policy head Javier Solana will also figure prominently, the statement cited by CTK news agency said.
The agency highlighted Klaus's position as an ardent denier of global warming, with Japan slated to buy up slack among the Czech Republic's carbon credits, a global system allowing larger industrial nations to over-reach on pollution targets.
Czech Environment Minister Martin Bursik this month slammed Klaus over a speech at a conference on climate change where he said the planet had been cooling for the past decade.
"I am sorry to say that in his public appearances Vaclav Klaus manifests a combination of activism and amateurism," said Green Party chairman Bursik.
Klaus, the author of a book on climate change called "Blue Planet, Green Shackles," has accused environmentalists of endangering freedom, likening them to the communists who ruled his country for 40 years.
"Unfortunately, Vaclav Klaus is often perceived as the representative of the Czech presidency" of the EU, Bursik added.
After his visit to Prague, Aso is to travel to Germany where he will meet Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Klaus said earlier Friday he would appoint a temporary cabinet on May 8 to succeed the current government toppled last month, midway through the country's presidency of the EU.
But he reprimanded interim Prime Minister Jan Fischer, saying he had expected "bigger progress" in work on the new team after Fischer told him he needed another week to announce the names.
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