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The EU President, Swedish Prime Minister Frederik Reinfeldt has said he feels confident that Czech President Václav Klaus will complete ratification of the Lisbon treaty if he receives his desired opt-out from the Charter of Fundamental Rights. Speaking at a news briefing, Mr Reinfeldt said that he was currently working with Czechs at various levels to see that the exemption is made. Swedish media reported on Wednesday that the statement was based on a recent conversation between Mr Reinfelt and Mr Klaus. The Czech President at the weekend admitted for the first time that Lisbon ratification was probably unstoppable.

In order for the EU reform treaty to take effect if must be ratified by each of the 27 EU states. The eurosceptic Czech President not yet signed it, and recently conditioned his endorsement on an exemption similar to the ones received by Poland and the UK. Mr Klaus says he is concerned that without such an exemption, the post-WWII Beneš Decrees expelling German property owners from Czechoslovakia could be ruled on by EU courts.

Prime Minister Jan Fischer has presented his government’s policy statement to the Chamber of Deputies, laying out the priorities for the remainder of the interim government’s tenure. Key among those is bridging the economic crisis, which the PM said is not yet a thing of the past. The prime minister said that in the current economic climate no fundamental changes would be made to the ministries, cost-cutting measures will continue across the board, however no additional austerity package will be put forward, unless some unforeseen economic crash occurs. Mr Fischer emphasised that his cabinet had managed its first five months in office well, and had met the priorities set forth in its first policy statement. Gaining better access to EU funds, he said, would be a priority across the ministries. Mr Fischer strongly emphasised that his is a pro-EU government, committed to ratifying the Lisbon treaty by the end of 2009; attempts he said were underway to negotiate the exemption from the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights requested by President Václav Klaus.

Prime Minister Fischer’s government was originally intended as a provisional “summer government” after the elected centre-right government lost a vote of confidence in the spring. Early elections were suspended by the Constitutional Court however, and the key parliamentary parties have agreed that the government may continue its mandate without a vote of confidence until regular elections are held next year.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs Jan Kohout has said that the interim government will take active part in the debate over the form of any new missile defence system. The statement comes a day ahead of the arrival of American Vice President Joe Biden, who will be visiting the Czech Republic to discuss new US plans for the system. Mr Biden is currently in Poland, which was also to host a part of the system. US President Barack Obama definitively cancelled his predecessor’s plan for a missile defence system involving interceptor missiles in Poland and a tracking station in the Czech Republic, and has said his administration is currently looking at a new, more efficient system.

The Workers’ Party organised a demonstration of roughly 100 people Wednesday evening to protest the raids near the Office of the Government in Prague. Some 25 police officers and a public order squad were present to monitor the protestors, who they barred from approaching the building. After a half an hour the demonstration marched under police escort to the police department where some of those detained in the morning raids are being held.