Prague - Czech President Vaclav Klaus, an opponent of the
European Union's reform Lisbon Treaty, said that the bloc's deal with
Ireland that would enable a new referendum on the stalled pact should
be submitted for ratification by the national parliament.
The treaty, which is designed to boost the EU's global standing
through reforming its institutions, has been stalled since Irish
voters rejected in a referendum a year ago.
The 27-member bloc plans to strike a deal with Ireland on
conditions for a new vote at a two-day summit in Brussels starting
Thursday.
In a Tuesday letter to Prime Minister Jan Fischer, which was
released Wednesday on the president's personal website, Klaus said
that the guarantees the EU plans to give to Ireland 'require (Czech)
Parliament's approval.'
Under Czech law, ratification of an international treaty by
parliament also requires a presidential signature.
Fischer, who is to head the EU summit, replied that the EU's deal
with Ireland does not require such approval and can be sealed only by
the government.
The EU hopes that the new Irish referendum would revive the pact,
which must be approved by all EU members to become valid.
EU leaders agreed to give Dublin guarantees that the Lisbon Treaty
will not breach Ireland's neutrality or force it to change its tax
and family laws, as Irish voters had feared.
But debate has raged over how to pass the guarantees into law.
Ireland wants EU states to ratify them as an attachment to a
future treaty. Other EU members, including the Czech Republic which
presides over the bloc until June 30, fear that this would force them
to re-open debate on the deeply unpopular treaty among their own
citizens.
Klaus, who rejects the treaty as a threat to his country's
sovereignty and a bad deal for small EU countries, has so far refused
to sign the pact, which cleared Czech parliament. He hinted that he
will do so only after Ireland reverses its rejection.
Aside from the Czech Republic and Ireland, Germany and Poland are
also yet to complete ratification.
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