Klaus keeps EU guessing on future of Lisbon Treaty

In an interesting article from the EU Observer "Klaus keeps EU guessing", we see a new date that the Czech Constitutional Court will make a ruling on the Lisbon Treaty. According to this report, the court will meet at the end of October (27 October), rather than late November, which was in the news last week. So in about two weeks we should know whether the Lisbon Treaty is finally ratified or not.

However, apparently Czech President Vaclav Klaus still must sign the treaty, even after the court makes its ruling. It is assumed that he will sign the document if directed to do so by their constitutional court, but some are worried about this:

"Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer, in an embarassing political situation, on Tuesday flew to Brussels to reassure European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso of the Czech government's good intentions."

"But it was evident in the press conference afterwards that Mr Fischer was as unsure as everybody else on what Mr Klaus next move will be. He said he had asked Mr Klaus to 'provide a clear and explicit guarantee' that the president will complete ratification in 'due course.'"

"The Czech ratification process is being viewed with some disbelief among EU officials, who point to the fact that both houses of the Czech parliament have already passed the treaty."


So it looks like we should have our answer within a few days of the constitutional court meeting to be held on October 27. It should be very interesting to see what Mr Klaus does after the ruling and the enormous pressure that he will face from the EU.

The next 2-3 weeks should be very interesting as we watch the final stages of the Lisbon Treaty and the formal consolidation of Europe.