Parliament postpones vote on Lisbon treaty ratification

The Czech Parliament will vote on whether to ratify the Lisbon treaty after February 3, 2009. At an extraordinary meeting of Parliament on Tuesday MPs voted to start debating the reform document, but only make a decision upon its ratification next year. The proposal to start discussing the Lisbon treaty was approved on Tuesday by 143 to 47. The heads of all of the parties within the government coalition, however, agreed beforehand that they would seek to postpone a vote on the treaty until February 3 at the earliest. The Czech Republic takes over at the helm of the European Union on January 1. It is the only EU country yet to decide upon whether to ratify the Lisbon treaty or not.