Klaus demands Czech vote on Irish guarantees

CZECH PRESIDENT and arch-Eurosceptic Vaclav Klaus clashed with his government yesterday by demanding that parliament approve guarantees that the EU is expected to give Ireland on the Lisbon Treaty.

After long delays, both houses of the Czech parliament have ratified the Lisbon Treaty but Mr Klaus, one of its fiercest critics, has refused to sign it into law pending a legal challenge by like-minded Czech politicians and Ireland’s second vote on the document.

A dispute over the constitutional validity of the guarantees could lend weight to the legal challenge and give Mr Klaus further cause to withhold his signature from the Lisbon Treaty, which he says will transfer too much power from national governments to unelected officials in Brussels.

In a letter to Czech prime minister Jan Fischer, Mr Klaus said the guarantees – due to come before the EU summit taking place today and tomorrow – would take the form of an international political treaty that required parliament’s consent.

“As a result, it cannot be concluded as a government agreement and it can only be signed with the reservation of ratification,” Mr Klaus wrote.

“If it were concluded in a different form, it would be in discrepancy with . . . the Czech Republic’s constitution and I could not accept such steps.”

Mr Fischer countered that it “is not an international treaty of a political nature . . . but an international treaty of a governmental type which does not require the powers of the head of state to be concluded”.

Several EU governments, including the Czech one, are keen to ensure agreement on the legally binding guarantees does not force them to reopen talks on the treaty itself or repeat the difficult ratification process. Advocates of the treaty hope the guarantees will ensure an Irish Yes vote in the second referendum later this year.

The Czech government said the guarantees would tackle issues of “tax, security and defence policy and the right to life, family and education. In addition, the significance attached to social issues, including workers’ rights, will be confirmed by means of a joint statement that is not legally binding.”