The Czech Republic's top court on Tuesday ruled that the European Union's reform treaty is legal, piling pressure on President Vaclav Klaus to become the final EU leader to sign the landmark document into law. "It is now of course a matter for President Klaus," Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown said in reaction to the ruling, which was welcomed across the EU.
The staunchly eurosceptic Klaus is the last EU leader holding out against the Lisbon Treaty, which aims to streamline decision-making in the 27-nation bloc and must be ratified by all EU members to take effect. Klaus has not said when he will sign the text, but he had promised not to throw up more obstacles if it was cleared by the court. European Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso also said "no further unnecessary delays should prevent the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty."
Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer said Klaus should now sign the treaty as "the last hurdle has been cleared, and there is no obstacle to the ratification now." Czech lawmakers approved the treaty this year but a group of senators challenged it at the court last month.
"The Lisbon Treaty ... as a whole ... does not run counter to the Czech constitution," Constitutional Court chairman Pavel Rychetsky said announcing the ruling. The court had already turned down one challenge last year, but that verdict only concerned selected paragraphs of the treaty, not the entire text. Klaus, who described the treaty as a threat to Czech sovereignty, said he would not sign before the latest verdict. The court in any case said he could not do so before its ruling.
After the Irish Republic's two referendums on the treaty and with renewed agonising over Europe in Britain, EU leaders have been anxiously waiting for Klaus to end the impasse.
At a summit last week, EU leaders agreed to give Prague an opt-out from parts of the treaty. Klaus had demanded an exemption to ensure that a rights charter inside the treaty would not allow ethnic Germans forced out of the former Czechoslovakia after World War II to reclaim their property. The delay in implementing the treaty has hampered the work of the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, whose mandate expired at the end of October.
The EU also has to hold off on nominations for two top EU jobs created by the treaty - the president and foreign affairs supremo. Klaus' signature is now the main question. "There is no deadline, it's really only up to him to decide," said Vlastimil Goettinger, the Czech Constitutional Court's adviser for foreign relations. The Lisbon Treaty is designed to smooth the workings of EU, which has almost doubled in size to 27 nations since a swathe of ex-communist nations including the Czech Republic joined in 2004.