President Klaus to wait for Ireland’s decision before signing Lisbon treaty

President Václav Klaus on Monday indicated that he will put off signing the Lisbon treaty until it has been ratified by Ireland. Mr. Klaus, who sees the treaty as a “fatal restriction of national sovereignty” said in an interview for Radio Česko that any discussion on the treaty’s future was pointless until the Constitutional Court ruled as to whether its adoption would not violate the Czech constitutional order. Mr. Klaus also noted that without Ireland, the treaty was not viable and that he had no reason to put his own signature to it until it had a realistic chance of being adopted. Apart from Ireland, which rejected the treaty in a national referendum in June, the Czech Republic is the only EU member not to have voted on the document. Political commentators note that this could seriously complicate the country’s EU presidency in the first half of 2009.