GERMANY:THE LISBON Treaty faces ratification delays thanks to a constitutional challenge looming in Germany and a parliamentary revolt brewing in Poland.
Bavarian MP Peter Gauweiler from the ruling Christian Social Union (CSU) plans to lodge a constitutional challenge to what he calls the "unreadable tome" - currently being ratified across the 27-member union.
The application to Germany's constitutional court will be made after the Bundestag vote on the the treaty, expected on May 23rd.
"The reform treaty contains the same germ of the disease it is supposed to cure . . . the question is whether this new treaty breaks the constitution once more like, in my opinion, the old treaty did," wrote Mr Gauweiler in a newspaper column.
"The facade has been renovated a little but the questionable structures remain, above all the democratic deficit of the treaty persists."
The 200-page complaint resembles Mr Gauweiler's challenge to the constitutional treaty, which addressed issues of national sovereignty and the future balance of power between the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament.
The previous challenge was accepted for examination by the court, thus preventing the German president signing the treaty into law.
"It doesn't make him popular but many other MPs are secretly glad he's doing it because they don't want to be seen to be blindly following the leader," said Christoph Tiné, a spokesman for Mr Gauweiler in Berlin.
Berlin officials are unsure how to deal with Mr Gauweiler's looming constitutional complaint. Several law changes required for the treaty have already been made and everything is set for the May 23rd vote.
"We just hope that if a complaint comes, we have enough time between May and January to deal with it," said one official.
In Warsaw, meanwhile, MPs from Poland's opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party have threatened to vote against the treaty, negotiated by their party leader, Jaroslaw Kaczynski.
Mr Kaczynski has demanded last-minute changes to the treaty, including the reinstatement of a preface and other measures to guarantee Polish sovereignty.
"We would be taking an awful responsibility upon ourselves if we voted for the degrading of Poland by its own government," Mr Kaczynski said.
His demands could have serious implications for ratification: prime minister Donald Tusk is dependent on PiS to reach the required two-thirds parliamentary majority.
Mr Tusk has warned against endangering ratification with "political games" and has asked Mr Kaczynski's twin brother, President Lech Kaczynski, to resolve the matter.