European Union | 08.10.2009

Czech president causes new headache for EU on reform treaty

Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Klaus is one of the EU's greatest skeptics

The EU's reform treaty has faced one hurdle after another, but, slowly, each issue has been resolved. Now the Czech president has raised another obstacle and the bloc's presidency is not impressed.

The Irish have finally voted "yes" to the Lisbon Treaty and aides to Polish President Lech Kaczynski have signaled he will sign the document this coming weekend. The final hurdle lies in the Czech Republic, where President Vaclav Klaus cannot sign the treaty until the outcome of a legal challenge on the text is known.

On Thursday, however, Vaclav Klaus held a telephone conference with Swedish Prime Minister and current EU President Fredrik Reinfeldt to discuss the Czechs' ratification of the treaty.

Euroskeptic Klaus told Reinfeldt that he would now like to see a footnote of two sentences added to the text of the treaty. Klaus, however, was not particularly clear about what those two sentences should be, as Reinfeldt later told reporters.

"As far as I understand it, he's linking this to the [EU's] Charter of Fundamental Rights," Reinfeldt said.

"Then [Klaus] wants the European Council to take a decision on this footnote," he said.

"The wrong message at the wrong time"

The request for the additional wording at this late stage of the process will certainly not make Klaus any more popular among fellow EU leaders. Reinfeldt said he had told the Czech president that his request was the "wrong message at the wrong time."

"I told him clearly it is his ink on the paper that counts and I don't want this to delay the treaty going through as soon as possible," Reinfeldt said.

Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Reinfeldt said he'd told Klaus that this new condition could have been mentioned earlier

Time is running out for the EU, which wants the Lisbon Treaty to come into effect in just a few months, on January 1. The treaty, aimed at streamlining the EU's institutions, must be ratified by each of the bloc's 27 member states before it can come into force.

If Klaus is successful in delaying the adoption of the treaty beyond the hoped-for date, the EU may run into yet another hurdle in the form of British opposition leader David Cameron, who is likely to become the country's next prime minister.

The head of the Conservatives has signaled that he will hold a referendum on the treaty if his party wins the next election, due by June next year, and if the document has not yet been adopted by then.

Britain has already ratified the treaty, but the traditionally euroskeptic British public could easily be persuaded to vote against its introduction if given the chance in a referendum.

The referendum held in Ireland last week was the second time the country had put the treaty to a public vote, with the first poll last year returning a "no" result. It's believed that one of the main reasons for the turnaround in public opinion this year was the heavy impact of the global financial crisis in Ireland and the realization by many in the country that the EU is a good friend to have around when times are tough.

ca/dpa/AFP/Reuters

Editor: Nancy Isenson