CZECH RATIFICATION:AS THE Czech Republic's powerful eurosceptics celebrate Ireland's rejection of the Lisbon Treaty, its fractious government is facing the twin embarrassment of possible collapse over the charter and the prospect of killing it off while the country serves as EU president.
Czech ratification of the treaty will not proceed until the constitutional court rules on its legality in autumn, just before Prague takes over the rotating presidency of the EU in January.
While prime minister Mirek Topolanek has backed the treaty, many leading members of his own party oppose it, and president Vaclav Klaus has loudly tolled its death knell following Ireland's No vote.
"The EU cannot ignore its own rules. The Lisbon Treaty has been roundly and democratically rejected by Ireland, and it therefore cannot come into force," Mr Klaus said in an interview published yesterday. "Any attempt to ignore this fact and recourse to pressure and political manipulation to move the treaty forward would have disastrous consequences for Europe. With or without the Czech vote, the treaty cannot come into force."
At last week's EU summit, Mr Topolanek persuaded treaty advocates such as France and Germany to give Czechs breathing space to discuss the document without being threatened that a No verdict would halt enlargement of the bloc.
At the same time, he gave his boldest personal endorsement of the treaty, jeopardising his position if his deeply divided party and coalition government crumble over the issue. "The government approved the Lisbon Treaty, I signed it, and I do not intend to withdraw my signature," he said.
"Although the treaty was a difficult compromise for us, I linked my political career with it when I backed it, even though the treaty includes a number of things with which I disagree."
Mr Topolanek faces a daunting task, however, in trying to reconcile the many opponents of the treaty in his own centre-right Civic Democrat party (ODS), and advocates of the charter in the Christian Democrat and the Green parties, which give his coalition its wafer-thin majority in parliament.
"I think it would be good for us if we ratified the Lisbon Treaty before January 1st, 2009, as on that day our EU presidency begins," said foreign minister and Green party supporter Karel Schwarzenberg.
"If the ratification process has not resumed at that time, we will be in very great difficulty.
"It is for the constitutional court to issue its judgment ... I am expecting a positive opinion. If that is not the case, we will have to make a small change to the Czech constitution." Such a move would outrage Mr Klaus and many top ODS members, who have a strong hold over the upper house of parliament, the Senate, which could block passage of the treaty even if the lower house approved it.
"My view is that this treaty is dead, because the whole EU needs 27 Yes votes and now we have one No," said ODS member and Senate leader Premysl Sobotka.
"It is the same situation now as after the No from France and Netherlands," he insisted, referring to the French and Dutch rejections in 2005 of the EU's draft constitution, the failed forerunner of the pared-down Lisbon Treaty.
While Prague's eurosceptic politicians claim the treaty will give too much power to Brussels, polls suggest Czechs know and care little about the charter: one survey last month showed that 81 per cent Czechs had no interest in the treaty's fate, and only 12 per cent said they had been given adequate information about it.
Furthermore, disputes over the treaty are only stoking existing tension in a government that is riddled with disagreement about health reforms and plans to host a US missile-defence radar and to compensate churches for property confiscated during the communist era.
"If we are not able to realise reforms, which will be clear sometime near the end of the year, in November or December, then we must leave," Mr Topolanek said this month.
Political analyst Jiri Pehe said it would be "very difficult or impossible" for the government to push through reforms. "It's obvious that the coalition is falling apart."