Czech court lifts last legal hurdle to EU treaty

By KAREL JANICEK, Associated Press Writer

PRAGUE – A Czech court struck down a complaint against the EU reform treaty on Tuesday, removing the proposed charter's last legal hurdle and intensifying pressure on President Vaclav Klaus to sign it.

The Constitutional Court's chief judge, Pavel Rychetsky, said the Lisbon Treaty, which has already been ratified by other member nations, "does not violate the (Czech) constitution."

At the end of the ruling, whose reading took almost two hours, Rychetsky said all formal obstacles for ratification "are removed."

Klaus is the last obstacle to the full ratification of the treaty, which is designed to transform Europe into a more unified and powerful global player. The charter, which was bogged down in negotiations for almost a decade, has been ratified by all other 26 EU nations.

In Brussels, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said he was "extremely pleased" with the verdict.

"Together with the commitments given by all member states to the Czech government at the European Council last week, I believe that no further unnecessary delays should prevent the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty," Barroso said.

"I hope that we can now move forward as quickly as possible on the nomination of the president of the European Council and vice president of the Commission High Representative," he said, referring to the newly-created post of president, who will chair EU summits, and the bloc's new foreign policy chief, who will represent the EU abroad.

"The decision clears the way for President Vaclav Klaus to sign and finalize the ratification of the treaty and I am very confident he will do so," said Jerzy Buzek, president of the European Parliament. "The Treaty of Lisbon should now enter into force by the end of the year."

Klaus was awaiting the Brno-based court's ruling before deciding whether to endorse the treaty. It is not clear when that could happen.

Prime Minister Jan Fischer welcomed the verdict.

"The last hurdle has been cleared," Fischer said in a statement. He said he now expects Klaus to sign the treaty. He previously said he hoped Klaus could do that by the end of the year.

The court was asked to rule by a group of senators who filed a motion arguing the treaty was not in line with the constitution. Last year, the court dismissed a similar complaint.

Failure of the treaty would send the EU into an unprecedented crisis. Negotiators say its reforms — creating a new EU president post, giving more power to the foreign policy chief and streamlining EU decision-making — are needed to make the EU more effective.

Last week, EU leaders agreed to Klaus' last-minute demand — an opt-out from the treaty's Charter of Fundamental Rights in return for his signing of it. Klaus said he was not planning to make any further demands.

The Czech leader asked for the option over worries of property claims by ethnic Germans stripped of their land and expelled after World War II.

But it was considered Klaus had used the demand for the opt-out to try to scuttle ratification of the treaty, which he opposes. He fears the treaty would hand over too many national powers to EU institutions in Brussels.

Both houses of the Czech Parliament already have ratified the treaty.