Czech court postpones verdict on Lisbon treaty until next Tuesday

The Constitutional Court has postponed a final verdict on whether the EU’s Lisbon treaty is in line with Czech law until next Tuesday. The court held a public hearing on the matter on Tuesday, in response to a petition filed a month ago by a group of senators loyal to the Eurosceptic Czech president, Václav Klaus. They say Lisbon would threaten Czech sovereignty.

The Czech Republic is the only state in the EU not to have completed ratification of the Lisbon treaty. If the Constitutional Court gives it the green light, President Klaus would be obliged to put his signature to ratification. However, Mr Klaus is demanding that the Czech Republic receive an opt-out from Lisbon’s Charter of Fundamental Rights. He says that otherwise Germans expelled from Czechoslovakia after Word War II could seek to reclaim property.

The Czech prime minister, Jan Fischer, is hoping to secure a deal with EU leaders in Brussels later this week under which the opt-out would be granted, if Mr Klaus promises to sign Lisbon. The president’s office said on Tuesday that his chancellor Jiří Weigl would be in the Czech delegation at the summit.