Czech senators to submit Lisbon Treaty complaint within two months

May 12, 2009, 14:40 GMT

Prague - A group of Czech senators plan to submit a constitutional court complaint challenging the European Union's stalled reform Lisbon Treaty within two months, a senator said Tuesday.

The planned move is likely to further drag out the ratification process in the Czech Republic.

To come into force, the treaty, which aims to boost EU's global standing through institutional reform, requires approval by all 27 member states. The pact has been stalled since Ireland rejected it in a June 2008 referendum.

It took seven months before the top Czech court ruled on the first such motion, lodged by a group of eurosceptic lawmakers in April 2008. The 15-member court ruled parts of the treaty 'not at odds' with the constitution in late November.

'We will try to draw the complaint so the Constitutional Court has to take a stand on the treaty as a whole,' senator Jiri Oberfalzer told the German Press Agency dpa.

He said that 17 senators, a number required by the Senate's rules of procedure, are ready to sign the complaint.

The upper house approved the pact on May 6, completing voting in the bicameral parliament. The treaty's ratification now requires a signature by President Vaclav Klaus, who rejects the accord as a bad deal for his country and a threat to its sovereignty.

Klaus hinted that he will not sign the charter until Ireland withdraws its rejection of the pact.

The president also said that he will not decide whether to ink the treaty until the court rules on the planned complaint. 'He assured us that he sticks to that stance,' Oberfalzer said.

The EU hopes that a new Irish vote in autumn could revive the pact. Aside from in the Czech Republic and Ireland, the ratification has not been completed in Germany and Poland where presidents are yet to sign it.