The Foreign Minister of the Czech Republic today said he believed Ireland would vote in favour of the Nice Treaty on October 19th.
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The Czech Foreign Minister Mr Cyril Svoboda and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Brian Cowen at Iveagh House in Dublin today.
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Meeting his Irish counterpart, Mr Cowen, Mr Cyril Svoboda said: "I believe that we will receive a positive signal from Ireland. The positive signal is Yes."
During the meeting at the Department of Foreign Affairs in Iveagh House, Dublin, the ministers discussed both the upcoming referendum and the criteria involved in Czech accession to the EU.
Mr Svoboda assured Mr Cowen that the Czech Republic was ready to join and that all the criteria for joining the EU were in place.
Both Mr Svoboda and Mr Cowen said the referendum will have a very important effect on the enlargement.
Meanwhile, Mr Cowen rubbished today's reports in The Irish Timesthat the EU will ask for a Dáil declaration backing EU enlargement if Ireland rejects the Nice Treaty for a second time.
He said: "The advice that we have as a Government from our AG and constitutional experts that that simply would be a totally inadequate and unconstitutional response to the popular will expressed by the people in the event of non-ratification of this treaty."
"Unfortunately whatever surmising or comment that would be made by unnamed [EU] officials or otherwise, it is simply inadequate as a response to the effect of a no vote," he added.
