President Klaus warns against ignoring Irish ‘no’ to Lisbon treaty

Mr Klaus has made fresh comments about the European Union’s embattled Lisbon Treaty. In an interview with Spain’s El Pais newspaper, Mr Klaus warned against ignoring the Irish electorate’s rejection of the treaty two weeks’ ago. He warned of ‘catastrophic consequences for Europe’ should EU leaders exert pressure on Ireland to change its stance on the treaty. The Czech president chided EU leaders for ‘ignoring their own rules’ by continuing to ratify the treaty now that the document no longer had all member states’ support. In the interview, Mr Klaus called for a ‘new document, written by new people’ in order to take the EU forward.