The Czech upper house will likely approve the EU's Lisbon Treaty in a tense vote planned for Wednesday, removing a major obstacle to the pan-European reform plan, Deputy Prime Minister Alexandr Vondra said on Tuesday. The Czech Republic is one of only several countries that have not yet completed the ratification process for the pact.
A strong eurosceptic wing in its biggest party - Vondra's right-wing Civic Democrats - has thrown its fate into doubt. The Lisbon Treaty would give the bloc a beefed-up foreign representative, a long-term president, take away national vetoes on some decisions and raise the voting power of big EU states.
It is meant to help overcome stalemates in decision-making within the European Union, which has grown from 15 to 27 members since 2004. But it has sparked protests by Czech President Vaclav Klaus and Civic Democrat lawmakers who say the treaty takes away national sovereignty and is a step towards a European superstate.
The charter has broad support among other parties in the Senate but still needs seven votes from the 36-strong Civic Democrat bloc to get the three-fifths required for ratification. Vondra, in charge of European affairs in the outgoing Czech cabinet, said those votes would be comfortably found.
Lisbon ratification could partially improve the Czechs' international image, tarnished by the collapse of the centre-right cabinet in March, midway through the country's six-month term as EU president. Vondra, who will hand over his post to a caretaker minister on May 8, said the Lisbon treaty was not 100 percent but "60-40" positive for the country, but still worth ratifying.
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