Poland's President Lech Kaczynski will not sign the European Union's Lisbon Treaty on Sunday, his twin brother Jaroslaw said today, contradicting an earlier statement from a presidential aide.
"This is all media speculation. If (the aide Aleksander) Szczyglo really said this, it means he is misinformed. According to what I know, and I have knowledge of this, this won't happen on Sunday," Jaroslaw Kaczynski told a news conference.
Jaroslaw Kaczynski is known to exercise influence over his brother and heads Poland's main opposition party.
A second presidential aide, Pawel Wypych, also said he did not expect the president to sign the treaty on Sunday.
Sweden's prime minister, whose country holds the EU presidency, had a "fairly positive" conference call with Czech president Vaclav Klaus today over whether Mr Klaus will sign the EU's Lisbon Treaty, Swedish diplomats said.
"Prime Minister (Fredrik) Reinfeldt spoke to President Klaus by conference call earlier today. It was very interesting and fairly positive," a diplomat told Reuters.
Poland and the Czech Republic are the only countries in the 27-member EU still to ratify the treaty after Ireland overwhemingly backed the document in a referendum last Friday.
The treaty aims to streamline EU decision-making. It has to be ratified by all 27 member states to come into force.
Reuters