Aftredende Tjsechische minister Mirek Topolanek hoopt Verdrag van Lissabon nog te ratificeren voor Europese verkiezingen (en)
Outgoing Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek i has said he will try and persuade his generally eurosceptic party to accept the Lisbon treaty, adding that he believed it would be ratified before the June European elections.
"I will plead for the approval of the Lisbon Treaty, and try to cause only the smallest scars and slightest damage to the unity of the [Civic Democrats]," he said, according to Reuters, having being ousted from power by a vote of no confidence last week.
He added that he believed the Czech parliament would complete ratification before elections to the European Parliament, taking place in the Czech Republic from 5-6 June.
Mr Topolanek, who currently chairs the EU's six-month rotating presidency, resigned after the vote, potentially putting the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty in the central European state into jeopardy.
His Civic Democrats (ODS) remain the strongest party in the country's senate, which has yet to pass the treaty.
But the deputies are largely sceptical about the document and are now seen as unlikely to toe Mr Topolanek's more moderate line on Europe and instead align themselves more strongly with ODS founder and Czech President Vaclav Klaus i.
Mr Klaus is an outspoken eurosceptic and is a strong critic of the Lisbon Treaty.
Meanwhile, the Irish government has said it will continue negotiations with the Czech EU presidency on securing a legal text on certain issues concerned with the treaty, despite Prague's complicated domestic problem.
These legal guarantees - on neutrality, tax and social issues - were agreed by EU leaders following Ireland's rejection of the treaty in a referendum last year.
A diplomatic source told the Sunday Business Post that the Irish government expected the guarantees to be agreed ahead of a June EU leaders summit, but admitted: ‘‘We don't know what's going to happen. Nobody does. They don't know themselves."
In Brussels there are fears that if the treaty is not approved this year then it risks not coming into place at all.
Next year, a general election in the UK could see the Conservatives return to power. Its leader, David Cameron, has said he would hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty if it is not already in place.
Press Articles