Barroso warns Fischer against “artificial obstacles” to Lisbon ratification, though satisfying latest Klaus demand could be tall order
The Czech prime minister was in Brussels on Tuesday for talks on his country’s stalled ratification of the EU’s Lisbon treaty. The European Commission president warned him against “artificial obstacles”, though it remains hard to see a way around the latest obstacle thrown up by the Czech president. Meanwhile, the Constitutional Court has announced a public hearing on Lisbon in two weeks’ time.
The Czech Republic is the only country not to have completely ratified the European Union’s Lisbon treaty: only when it finalises its ratification process can the document come into force throughout the 27-member bloc.
Though most lawyers believe otherwise, Mr Klaus said it could open the way for Germans expelled from Czechoslovakia after the war to try to get their property back.
After an emergency cabinet meeting on Monday, Jan Fischer said he had a plan: in exchange for a promise from Mr Klaus not to try to block Lisbon in any other way, he will ask EU leaders to grant the opt-out. He will raise that issue at a summit in Brussels at the end of this month.
However, Mr Fischer’s proposal would seem to have a slim chance of success. For one thing, some EU members have already poured cold water on the idea. For another, Mr Klaus appears to want a legal guarantee on such an opt-out, rather than a relatively straightforward declaration; that could require the Lisbon ratification process to begin all over again.
Following Tuesday’s meeting, the president of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso said he hoped no “artificial obstacles” would be raised if the Czech Constitutional Court approves Lisbon, given that the Czech Republic’s parliament has already approved the document. But unless the Czech government comes to some kind of a compromise agreement with Mr Klaus, it is hard to imagine how it can move forward on Lisbon.
Meanwhile, there was a bit of good news for both Mr Fischer and Brussels: the Constitutional Court could rule on whether Lisbon is in line with Czech law somewhat quicker than was originally expected. There had been suggestions the process might run into next year.
An official said on Tuesday that it will hold a public hearing on the document on October 27, with the senators who sent the Lisbon treaty to the court, representatives of the government both houses of the Czech Parliament and President Klaus all invited.
Normally rulings are delivered on the same day, though in the case of more complicated issues they can be postponed until a later date. That said, given the pressure the Czech Republic is under over Lisbon, it may not take judges too long to reach a conclusion.
