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Czechs set Oct 27 court date for EU treaty

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-10-14 10:05

PRAGUE: The Czech Constitutional Court will hold a hearing on October 27 on a challenge that has been delaying ratification of the European Union's Lisbon reform treaty, a spokesman said.

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The Czechs are the last holdouts among the EU's 27 members who have not ratified the treaty, and the court challenge brought by a group of Euro-skeptic senators is one of two key stumbling blocks on the path to ratification.

The other obstacle is President Vaclav Klaus.

He is obliged to wait for the court ruling before he completes ratification, but he has also demanded the EU grants the Czechs a partial opt-out from the pact.

The treaty, already approved by both houses of the Czech parliament, is aimed at streamlining decision-making in the EU and giving the bloc bigger clout. It would also give the EU a long-term president and a more powerful foreign representative.

The court has in past cases often ruled on the day of the hearing or soon after, but there is no guarantee of a quick verdict.

The hearing will be held just ahead of the October summit of EU leaders in Brussels on October 29-30.

The court has already once rejected a complaint against the Lisbon Treaty, and most lawyers expect it to dismiss the latest appeal as well, which would open the way to ratification.

But Klaus threw a further obstacle in the way last week, demanding the EU grant the Czechs guarantees the treaty would not open the way to property claims by Germans forced out of the country after World War II.

The cabinet said it regretted Klaus did not raise his demands much earlier but said it would try to negotiate the guarantees with the other 26 EU partners by the time of the October summit, provided Klaus pledges that he will have no further demands.

Reuters