Barroso moedigt Tsjechië aan om het Verdrag van Lissabon te ratificeren (en)

José Manuel Dur ã o Barroso

President of the European Commission

Statement of President Barroso at the joint Press point Prime Minister Fischer

Figures and graphics available in PDF and WORD PROCESSED

VIP Corner with PM Fischer

Brussels , 13 October 2009

After the resounding yes vote in the Irish referendum, the democratic decision approving the Lisbon Treaty has now been taken in all 27 member states, whose governments have negotiated and signed the Treaty.

I had the opportunity to be present at the completion of the ratification process in Poland last Saturday, whereby Poland honoured the commitments it had taken vis-à-vis the other 26 member states.

At this stage, there is only one country that has not yet completed the ratification process, namely the Czech Republic.

We fully respect the constitutional order of the Czech Republic. It is therefore clear that we have to wait for the conclusion of the procedure in the Constitutional Court in the Czech Republic. But as soon as this is done, the judgement permitting, we expect the Czech Republic to honour the commitments it has taken. It is in the interests of nobody, least of all the interests of the Czech Republic, to delay matters further.

Prime Minister Fischer has informed me in detail on the new developments on this issue in the Czech Republic. We certainly hope that no artificial obstacles are raised at this time, bearing in mind that the democratic approval of the Treaty by the Czech Parliament has already taken place.

I have encouraged Prime Minister Fischer whose commitment and good faith I wish to salute to find a solution for the issues not yet clarified internally and to discuss this with the Swedish Presidency, with whom we are also in touch, so as to allow the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty by the end of the year.