Lower house says Yes to Lisbon but battle looms in Senate

The lower house of the Czech parliament approved the European Union's Lisbon Treaty on Wednesday, by a narrow margin of five votes. The treaty – aimed at reforming the EU - now goes to the upper house, where it faces stiff opposition from the main governing party, the Civic Democrats. The Czech Republic currently holds the revolving presidency of the EU, and ratifying Lisbon is proving to be politically rather awkward.

Photo: CTK

Czech MPs bowed to the inevitable on Wednesday morning and said Yes – many of them reluctantly – to Lisbon. 125 of the 197 MPs present voted in favour, just five votes more than the minimum needed for a constitutional majority. 61 MPs voted against the treaty, over half of them from the conservative Civic Democrats hostile to any further European integration.

Speaking to reporters shortly after the vote, Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek, who heads the Civic Democrats, hinted at the trouble Lisbon may still encounter in the upper house, the Senate:

“I’m glad the Lisbon Treaty has been approved by the lower house. Nonetheless the Civic Democrats are still bound by the resolution taken at last year’s party congress, and that’s why the battle now moves to the Senate. That resolution says parliament must also ratify the treaty with the United States on placing a radar base on Czech soil, as well as pass legislation [to curb some of the powers granted to governments by Lisbon.] So if these two conditions are met, nothing stands in the way of ratification of the Lisbon Treaty.”

Photo: European Commission

Political pragmatism has transformed Prime Minister Topolánek from a fierce opponent of further EU integration – he famously described the original EU Constitution as “shit” – into one of Lisbon’s reluctant supporters. Even as he cast his vote in favour, the prime minister told colleagues he was doing so with no great enthusiasm. Political analyst Jiří Pehe says Mr Topolánek is treading carefully at a crucial time in his political career:

“Mr Topolánek is playing a tactical game. He knows that party of his party is opposed to the treaty, that some of his deputies and senators may leave the party if the treaty is ratified, and he probably doesn’t want to rock the boat ahead of the elections to the European Parliament, because his party would go into the elections significantly weakened. He knows that if he suffers another defeat, after having suffered a defeat in the regional and Senate elections last year, he’s probably going to be removed from the post of party chairman and prime minister. So he’s playing a tactical game, and unfortunately the Lisbon Treaty has become a hostage to Czech domestic politics.”

So the Lisbon Treaty now goes to the Senate, although senators won’t begin discussing it until April. The Civic Democrats’ Senate caucus has already said it will not recommend its members vote in favour until the U.S. radar base has been ratified in the lower house, which remains an unlikely prospect.

And even if the Senate does vote Yes to Lisbon, the treaty must still be signed by President Václav Klaus before ratification is complete. And he has indicated he won’t sign the document until the people of Ireland – who said No to Lisbon last June but may soon be asked again – have made their decision.