Klaus conditions Lisbon signing on exemption from Fundamental Rights Charter

Czech President Václav Klaus has come up with a new condition for signing the EU-reforming Lisbon treaty: an exception to the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights similar to the one secured by Poland and the UK. At a Friday-afternoon press conference, Mr Klaus stated he was unhappy to have to address the issue before the completion of a constitutional challenge to the Lisbon Treaty. He said his address was forced by Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt’s announcement of certain, further unspecified, details that the Czech president said were intended to be confidential.

The eurosceptic Czech president along with his Polish counterpart have still not signed the reform treaty, which was expected to come into force at the beginning of 2010. Klaus is likely to be the last European head of state to do so after Polish President Lech Kaczynski said he would sign the treaty this Saturday. The Czech president is now waiting for the Constitutional Court to give its verdict on a new complaint about Lisbon lodged by a group of right-wing Senators.