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Final Hurdle To European Union Reform Treaty Cleared As Czech President Signs It 18 days ago
(RTTNews) - Czech President Vaclav Klaus has signed the Lisbon Treaty, thus clearing the final hurdle to the European Union's (EU) reform pact coming into force.
Klaus was the last head of state among the European bloc's 27 members to sign the bitterly contested Lisbon reform treaty. He completed the formality Tuesday, hours after the Czech constitutional court rejected a complaint against it.
The euro-skeptic president signed the decisive treaty with a discordant note, accusing the court of bias and said the Czech Republic was no longer sovereign.
Earlier, rejecting an appeal by the Czech senators over the constitutional validity of the European Union reforms treaty, the country's constitutional court ruled that it is in line with the constitution, clearing the way for the Czech President to sign it.
The final hurdle to the passage of the Lisbon Treaty got rid of with this, as Klaus had said that he will not further oppose the treaty once the court's decision comes.
All the EU member states have ratified the Lisbon treaty, but the Czech President's signature was pending, as it was under consideration of the the Brno-based Constitutional Court.
In a petition filed in September, a group of right-wing Civic Democrat senators challenged a special mandate that prevents the Czech government from approving transfer of powers to the EU without the parliament's agreement.
The court rejected the arguments Tuesday and said the judgment was unanimous.
The Lisbon treaty has to be ratified by all the member states in order to come into force, and time was running out, with the European Commission's mandate due to expire at the end of the month.
The Czech president had raised a last minute obstacle to the passage of the treaty, demanding a choice for his country to opt-out from the European Union's Charter of Fundamental Rights.
The EU summit in Brussels Friday agreed a deal to secure the ratification of the treaty by granting the Czech republic the privilege.
The Lisbon Treaty, which is designed to improve the European bloc's decision- making process, replaced an earlier draft constitution, which was rejected in referendums in France and the Netherlands in 2005.
The treaty envisages reducing the number of members of the European Commission, a full-time president of the European Council -- the institution where heads of government meet -- and a new, more powerful foreign policy chief.
The treaty would also increase the policy areas in which decisions could be made by a vote of the majority of EU nations, rather than only through unanimous approval.
Intended to take effect in January 2009, the treaty had been held up by two referendums in the Irish Republic, legal challenges in other countries, and delaying tactics by European politicians like Klaus, who oppose closer integration.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, who is in Washington for an EU-US summit, said he "believes that no further unnecessary delays should prevent the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty."
Hailing the Czech approval of the EU treaty as the removal of its "last hurdle," he said he was "confident" the reform pact will be signed this month. Barroso was reelected to the top executive post in September.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown termed the development as a "historic step."
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