Sign up to The Irish Times Archive (1859 - 2008)My Account »

FINALLY THE road ran out yesterday for the opponents of the Lisbon Treaty, notably the Czech Republic’s Eurosceptic president Vaclav Klaus who became the 27th head of state to sign off on it, however reluctantly. The unanimous rejection by the Czech constitutional court of the last potential legal impediment to ratification was quickly followed by the president’s assent, and the depositing in Rome of the instrument of ratification within days will see the treaty come into force probably in early December. But next week the European Council and commission president will separately be able to begin the immediate tasks of filling the new jobs of president of the council and high representative for foreign and security policy, and of allocating tasks to a new commission team.

The court found the treaty compatible with the Czech constitution, rejecting some objections on procedural grounds, and others because they were already the basis of a ruling by the same court on the same treaty in November last year. Among complaints explicitly rejected was an argument that the Irish guarantees materially changed the treaty.