Czech President Defiant on Lisbon Treaty

Czech President Vaclav Klaus says that he will not sign the Lisbon treaty, while it is under legal review, and that the treaty will have no impact on EU enlargement.

“It’s impossible to ratify this treaty even if I wanted to sign it, [because] it’s being discussed and debated by the [Czech] constitutional court,” Klaus said in a joint press conference in Tirana with Albanian counterpart Bamir Topi.

“It’s a tragic misconception [to think] that the ratification of the Lisbon treaty with expand the EU,” Klaus added.

The Czech parliament has ratified the treaty but, so far, Klaus, a harsh critic of the EU, has refused to sign it.

A group of senators from the Civic Democratic Party, which Klaus co-founded in 1991, filed a challenge to the treaty on September 29 in the Czech Constitutional Court, in what many in Europe sees as the latest Czech move to derail the treaty.

The Treaty of Lisbon was signed in 2007 and is an attempt to unite governing EU bodies and to expedite decision making. It has, so far, been ratified by 24 of 27 EU countries. The process got stuck last year in Ireland, as the country's laws require a referendum on such issues.

With Poland expected to ratify the treaty soon, the Czech signature looks set to be the last hurdle before implementation.

The treaty envisages changes to the EU Council of Ministers, the increased involvement of the European Parliament in the legislative process, and the creation of a President of the European Council and a High Representative for Foreign Affairs, to present a united stance on EU policies.

Ireland's yes vote over the weekend gave hope to Balkan nations in their tortuous path to bloc membership.

France and Germany have expressed resistance towards further EU expansions, in lieu of the treaty being ratified by all EU member states.

Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha praised the Irish vote “as historical”, not only for the EU and its member states, but also for countries like Albania, which aspires to join the bloc.

“The vote of the Irish people is a huge encouragement for Albanians and the Albanian government, to proceed forward with reforms in order to meet EU standards for membership,” Berisha said, in a statement.   

Serbian President Boris Tadic also praised the Irish voters' decision, saying that this represented a "great encouragement for the EU enlargement process".

"The door is open both for Serbia and for the western Balkans," he said.

However, despite the euphoria generated by the Irish vote, some experts are sounding a note of caution.

“The treaty will give breathing space to the EU’s enlargement policies toward the region,” says Gjergji Vurmo, an EU expert at Tirana's Institute of Democracy and Mediation. “However, this does not change much, because the region remains the same and the reform requirements to meet EU membership criteria are not expected to change either,” he added.