The Lisbon Treaty is being “fast-tracked” through the Czech constitutional court to end the uncertainty over its future as soon as possible, the Czech prime minister said today.
Jan Fischer was speaking after talks in Brussels in the wake of the Irish Yes vote last weekend.
Eurosceptic Czech president Vaclav Klaus, whose signature is required to complete full ratification of the treaty, is waiting for the outcome of a treaty challenge lodged with the constitutional court by a group of Czech senators before proceeding.
Mr Fischer said procedures were being speeded up.
“Everything is in place for the treaty to be ready and implemented by the end of this year," he said after a meeting by video conference with European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso and European Parliament president Jerzy Buzek.
"The constitutional court is working faster. It has asked for expert opinion (on the objections raised by the senators) and everyone is ready to give that advice some time next week," he said. “Then we will have a better idea of when the constitutional court could take a final decision.”
Ireland approved the treaty in a referendum last week, leaving the Czechs and Poland as the only member states yet to sign an accord that will streamline decision making, create an EU president and propose a unified foreign policy.
The Czech parliament has already endorsed the treaty and the latest objections are seen as a formality which will be dismissed by the constitutional court, possibly within weeks. The only other obstacle still in the treaty's path is the need for a signature from Poland's President Lech Kczynski, which is expected within days.
"We respect the constitutional order in the Czech Republic. We need to wait for that process to be completed," Mr Barroso said. "Once this is done, we see no reason why further delays should happen."
The Commission president said he hoped for "more clarity" by the end of this month, so that he could get on with the job of appointing his new Commission team and decide the portfolios. He said he expected the Polish president to sign the document this week.
A looming deadline is an EU summit at the end of this month, where EU leaders are supposed to be considering candidates for two new top jobs created by the Lisbon Treaty - a President of Europe and Foreign Secretary.
Speculation about Tony Blair as the new President of Europe is mounting, with EU leaders hoping to be in a position to name names for both the summit.