It is first necessary to assess the situation in the European Union after the treaty was rejected by the Irish in a referendum.
To draw conclusions regarding its further ratification would be premature, Topolanek said. Topolanek and other European leaders will discuss further steps following the referendum in Ireland at Brussels Gloomy as Irish 'No' Likely on EU Treaty ...
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Pentagon to support Czech science in exchange for U.S. base-press ... the forthcoming EU summit. "The EU has a stable contractual base and it can continue to function within it. In this respect it is premature to jump to the conclusions regarding the future ratification of the Lisbon treaty in the Czech Republic," Topolanek said. He said the process of the ratification in the Czech parliament had been interrupted and it would thus not be appropriate to "exert any pressure on the Czech Republic in the direction of immediate continuation of the ratification. The Czech government coalition has agreed that it will not take any radical positions on the Lisbon treaty or change its previous positions, Topolanek said. "The agreement on the institutional changes and the continuation of EU enlargement should prevail the purely legalistic view on the Lisbon treaty that could either lead to the conclusion that the ratification has no point after the Irish referendum or, on the contrary, that the ratification process should be continued even before an agreement on the solution to the situation in the EU after the Irish referendum is achieved," Topolanek said citing the government coalition statement. The Lisbon treaty to reform EU institutions, which replaced the rejected European constitution, must be ratified by all 27 member states to take effect. The Czech Constitutional Court is now assessing whether the Lisbon treaty is in harmony with the Czech law at the request of the Senate that was initiated by the ODS. Part of the ODS welcomed the Irish "no" because it is not in favour of the Lisbon treaty. President Vaclav Klaus, ODS founder and current honorary chairman, thanked the Irish for the rejection and said he believed the ratification process ended. However, the senior opposition Social Democrats (CSSD) demand that the ratification process should continue and junior government parties - the Greens (SZ) and the Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL) share this view.
(Ceske Noviny)
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