Justice Rychetský: Klaus must either sign Lisbon or have it reviewed

The Chief Justice of the Czech Constitutional Court, Pavel Rychetský, told Czech TV on Sunday that once the Lisbon treaty had been approved by Parliament, President Václav Klaus was obliged to put his signature to it and complete its ratification, or ask the Constitutional Court to review it. The Lisbon treaty was approved by both chambers of the Czech Parliament earlier this year but President Klaus said he would only consider putting his signature to it after another referendum on the treaty is held in Ireland. Justice Rychetský said however that whenever the Constitution sets down no particular time limit for the president to ratify international treaties, the head of state must act without delay.

Several Civic Democrat senators are considering petitioning the Constitutional Court to review whether the treaty is in line with Czech law. The court already examined six articles of the treaty in 2008 and said they did not contradict the Czech Constitution.