Czech prime minister Jan Fischer plans to deliver his country’s Lisbon Treaty ratification instrument to Rome next week, paving the way for the treaty to come into effect in December.
Last night, the Czech government announced that Mr Fischer “would personally deposit the Lisbon Treaty ratification instrument in Rome on the occasion of his visit to Vatican on November 13th”.
The move would allow the accord to be adopted into European Union law in December, a spokeswoman from the European Commission said today.
Czech president Václav Klaus finally signed the Lisbon Treaty earlier this week, removing the last obstacle to the treaty's ratification.
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 union a full-time president and a more powerful foreign policy chief which advocates insist will boost its standing on the world stage.
Former minister for justice Máire Geoghegan Quinn has been 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.