Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt of Sweden, which holds the EU presidency, urged Klaus to ratify the treaty swiftly so it can come into force Jan. 1. “Europe eagerly awaits [for] this to happen,’’ Reinfeldt said. “We do not need more delays.’’
With pressing matters such as the economic crisis and climate change to deal with, Reinfeldt stressed that “it is time to settle the institutional question of the EU.’’
“We have a responsibility to make this happen before the end of this year,’’ he said.
Klaus’s office did not immediately comment, but Prime Minister Jan Fischer said through his spokesman that he welcomed it and that he “believes that this document will be ratified in the Czech Republic in the foreseeable future.’’
EU leaders say new voting rules are needed to promote stronger policies in combating cross-border crime, terrorism, and ecological threats.
If Lisbon becomes law, more policy decisions would be permitted by majority rather than unanimous votes in European summits. Those policies would then increasingly be shaped by the elected parliaments of each nation and the European Parliament, which currently has little say. Projecting this more decisive EU abroad would be a new fixed-term president - in place of a decades-old system that rotates the presidency among governments every six months - and a new foreign minister.
Both houses of the Czech Parliament have approved ratification, but it still needs the final signature from Klaus - an EU skeptic and vocal opponent of the treaty who argues it will transfer too much power to Brussels and strip the Czech Republic of its sovereignty.
