Government: opt-out will not put Czechs at disadvantage

The Czech government has issued a statement saying that the opt-out from the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights granted to the Czech Republic by EU leaders on Thursday will not put Czech citizens at a disadvantage or in any way put their rights at risk. The statement comes in response to suggestions that the opt-out from the Charter of Fundamental Rights demanded by President Vaclav Klaus would in future prevent Czech citizens from defending their rights in European courts of law.

The opt-out, similar to those granted to Britain and Poland, was approved as a last-minute concession to Czech President Václav Klaus who refused to sign the Lisbon treaty without guarantees that it would not allow ethnic Germans forced out of the former Czechoslovakia after World War II to reclaim their property. The president says he is satisfied with the arrangement but there have been mixed reactions from the country’s political parties.