Civic Democrats could block Lisbon treaty debate in lower house

The ruling Civic Democratic Party may try to block a debate on the Lisbon treaty at Tuesday’s extraordinary session of the lower house, the news site Euro.cz reported on Monday. Citing Civic Democrat deputy Marek Benda, the news site said the plan was to vote against the programme line-up of Tuesday’s extraordinary session of the lower house. With support from Communist deputies, who oppose the ratification of the Lisbon treaty as one man, this strategy may work, the news site says. Although Civic Democrat leader Mirek Topolánek has called on the party to support the Lisbon treaty, he also warned against pushing too hard to get it approved by the end of the year saying such a move could back-fire. The eurosceptic faction within the party is doing its best to delay a vote on the issue. The weekend party conference decided to leave the vote on the Lisbon treaty in the hands of its deputies and senators, failing to pass a recommendation on the matter.