Thursday, 1 October 2009
Although the Czech Parliament ratified the Lisbon treaty in the spring 2009, Václav Klaus, the Czech President, has yet to sign it. President Klaus believes the Lisbon treaty weakens the sovereignty of the Czech Republic; therefore, he opposes the ratification of the treaty. He has tried to slow down the ratification process in the country in several ways. In September 2008, he stated that he would not sign the treaty before the Ireland referendum. Afterwards, some senators lodged a complaint against certain parts of the treaty and he declared that he would await the verdict of the Constitutional Court. Finally, the Court dismissed this complaint in November 2008.
Recently, at the Constitutional Court on 29 September 2009, a group of Czech senators lodged a second challenge against the treaty and Czech President Vaclav Klaus has again said that he would await the decision of the Court to sign the treaty. According to the experts, it could take 6 months for the Court to give a decision. During this time, the UK general election will take place and according to opinion polls, it is predicted that the Conservatives will win the election, and the conservatives in the UK have promised that they will put the Lisbon Treaty to a referendum if it is not in force at that time. Therefore, by doing this, Mr. Kluas, as a euro sceptic leader, plans to create new obstacles for the Lisbon treaty in case of a “Yes” result in the second Irish referendum which will be held on 2 October 2009.
The Lisbon Treaty will cause a major change in the current EU structure through amending the previous treaties and the main aim of it is to make the EU stronger in the 21st century. Some important changes are the extension of the qualified majority voting (QMV), the creation of a President of the European Council and a High Representative for Foreign Affairs. As a result, the euro sceptics criticize it as weakening the sovereignty of member states.
The Lisbon Treaty should be approved by all 27 member states in order to take effect in the EU legal system. However, the Czech Republic, Ireland and Poland have yet to ratify it despite other members’ ratification.
Yilmaz KAPLAN (JTW)
