Czech president to delay signing treaty until after Irish vote

THE EUROPEAN Union’s embattled Lisbon Treaty was approved by the Czech Republic’s upper house of parliament yesterday, but arch-Eurosceptic president Vaclav Klaus said he would not sign it into law until after Ireland votes again on the document.

Several of Mr Klaus’s allies from the centre-right Civic Democrat party (ODS) voted against the treaty or abstained from the vote, but it won the long-awaited ballot by 54 votes to 20 in the 81-seat Senate.

“This is an important day for the Czech Republic, for its position and influence in the EU and the world,” said deputy prime minister Alexandr Vondra, alluding to Czech fears that its current EU presidency would be further tarnished if it rejected the Lisbon Treaty.

Prague’s EU presidency suffered a jolt when the government of ODS prime minister Mirek Topolanek was toppled by a parliamentary no-confidence vote in March. He and his cabinet will step down on Friday and be replaced by a “government of experts”, which will lead the country until early elections in October.

“I do not accept the Lisbon Treaty with any great euphoria,” Mr Topolanek told the Senate ahead of the vote, in a speech that reflected the feeling of many ODS members.

“But I take it as a price for membership in the club,” he said, adding that rejection would be a “shameful moment” for the country and would “chase us into Moscow’s sphere of influence”.

European Commission chief José Manuel Barroso hailed the outcome of the vote as ”very good news” and claimed that there were now “very good prospects for the Irish vote”. But EU hopes that Czech parliamentary approval would give powerful new impetus to the treaty, which is intended to streamline decision-making in the bloc and facilitate its further expansion, were dashed by Mr Klaus’s refusal to complete the ratification process immediately.

“The Lisbon Treaty is dead for this moment,” he said with characteristic bluntness.

“It is dead because it was rejected in a referendum in one member state. Therefore, a decision on ratification of this treaty is not on the agenda at this point.”

Mr Klaus, who fears the treaty will transfer too much power from national governments to Brussels, has suggested previously that he would ratify the text if all other EU members do the same. Poland’s president has yet to sign the treaty and it faces a legal challenge in Germany.