By their "no" to the EU reform treaty in a referendum in June, the Irish sent a clear signal and it can be said as a certain hyperbole that the treaty is "dead" now, said Sobotka, member of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) that commands a majority of votes in the Czech upper house. Klaus, ODS honorary chairman with open Eurosceptic positions, said already in the wake of the Irish referendum that it is impossible to continue with the ratification process. Klaus was one of the few European politicians to welcome Munich agreement from 1938 reaches Prague ...
Rice says Czechs might travel to USA visa-free by year end ... the Irish rejection of the Lisbon treaty. He repeated his opinion today.
The continuation of the ratification in other countries has no sense unless Ireland changed its mind, he pointed out. To take effect, the treaty has to be ratified by all 27 EU states. To date it has been ratified by parliaments in 24 countries and Brussels says it hopes the parliaments in the remaining two, the Czech Republic and Sweden, will approve it as well. Ireland was the only state to hold a referendum on the issue. Sobotka said the treaty could narrowly make it through the Czech Senate if the ratification vote were held, but only on condition the treaty was approved by the Irish. It will also depend on the decision of the Czech Constitutional Court which is assessing the treaty's compatibility with the Czech constitution at the Senate's request, Sobotka added. He and Klaus today also discussed another crucial topic of the Czech foreign policy, the installation of a U.S. missile defence radar base southwest of Prague. Sobotka told journalists that the Czech Senate might take a vote on the Czech-U.S. treaties linked to the project at the end of this or the beginning of the next year. The ODS supports the radar plan, while its stand on the Lisbon treaty is not that unambiguous.
(Ceske Noviny)
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