CZECH PRESIDENT Václav Klaus finally signed the Lisbon Treaty yesterday, clearing the way for the reform accord to become European Union law as early as next month.
Mr Klaus admitted defeat in his long battle to block the treaty just hours after the Czech constitutional court threw out a final objection to it from his allies, and in the wake of a decision by other EU leaders last week to grant his request for a special opt-out for Prague on certain issues.
Mr Klaus’s stubborn stance made the Czech Republic the last of the EU’s 27 member states to ratify the treaty, which will give the bloc a full-time president and a more powerful foreign policy chief which advocates insist will boost its standing on the world stage.
As EU leaders welcomed the Czech move last night, former minister for justice Máire Geoghegan Quinn was being strongly tipped by Government sources to win the nomination from Taoiseach Brian Cowen as Ireland’s new EU Commissioner.
She was appointed to the plum position as Ireland’s representative on the EU Court of Auditors in 1999 and was reappointed for a second term in 2006.
Ms Geoghegan Quinn retired from active politics 12 years ago but there has been much speculation within Fianna Fáil about her chances of getting the commissioner’s post since Ireland’s treaty vote in October.
The chances of former president of the European Parliament, Pat Cox, being appointed to the position appeared to be receding last evening, while Fianna Fáil sources said there was no chance of former taoiseach John Bruton being considered.
EU Commission president José Manuel Barroso wrote to prime ministers of EU states asking them to consider appointing a woman.
The treaty is intended to streamline decision-making in an EU that has gained 12 new members since 2004 and facilitate further expansion.
Mr Klaus fears it will transfer too much power from national governments to Brussels and lay the groundwork for an EU “super-state”.
Mr Klaus’s signature ends some eight years of wrangling over how to reform the workings of the EU.
He finally capitulated after EU leaders gave Prague an exemption from a rights charter that he said would expose it to property claims from millions of Germans who were expelled from Czechoslovakia after the second World War. “I signed the Lisbon Treaty today,” Mr Klaus said after the constitutional court announced a decision he deplored as misguided and “political”.
“I had expected the court ruling and I respect it, although I fundamentally disagree with its content and justification . . . With the Lisbon Treaty taking effect, the Czech Republic will cease to be a sovereign state, despite the political opinion of the constitutional court.”
Fredrik Reinfeldt, premier of current EU presidency holder Sweden, said the treaty could come into force next month, and that a summit would be held “as soon as possible” to find the first EU president.
Mr Barroso said: “I think that the transformational potential that is there, the new external profile for the European Union, will be felt immediately.”
Possible contenders for the job of EU president include Dutch prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende, his Luxembourg counterpart Jean-Claude Juncker and former Finnish premier Paavo Lipponen.
Former British leader Tony Blair’s bid seems doomed after he failed to win backing from the Socialist bloc in the European Parliament.
David Cameron will today demand the repatriation of powers over social and employment law from Brussels, but will abandon past pledges to hold a referendum on the treaty.
In addition, he will commit to holding a referendum on any future EU treaties, but he is facing pressure from Eurosceptic MPs to go further and hold a popular vote on Britain’s membership of the EU.
“If the treaty is signed, if it is implemented, if it is put in place by all 27 countries, then clearly the situation will have changed and we’ll have to address that changed situation. It won’t be a treaty any more; it will be part of European law,” Mr Cameron said.