Czech court won't rule on Lisbon Treaty before EU summit (Roundup)

Oct 27, 2009, 15:44 GMT

   Prague - The Czech Republic's Constitutional Court will not rule on a challenge against the European Union's reform Lisbon Treaty before the bloc's top-level summit starting Thursday.

   The court, based in the Czech Republic's second-largest city Brno, on Tuesday adjourned until November 3 a hearing on whether the treaty is in line with Czech law, court chairman Pavel Rychetsky said.

   The closely watched case is among the final hurdles on the path to the EU's grand reform outlined by the treaty. The institutional overhaul aims to boost the 27-member bloc's global clout by streamlining its decision making.

   Czech President Vaclav Klaus, whose signature is the last one needed for the treaty to come into force, is barred from ratifying the accord before the court issues its verdict.

   The challenge to the treaty was lodged on September 29 by 17 Czech senators, Klaus supporters and Lisbon critics, who attacked the pact as a threat to national sovereignty that sets the EU on a path to a federation.

   The 15-member tribunal did not immediately explain its decision to adjourn the proceedings. On Tuesday, the anti-Lisbon senators submitted to the court a new filing outlining the cause for their complaint. This may have been a reason for the delay.

   'This move verges on obstructionist behaviour considering that there was enough time in the course of these proceedings for the court to receive from you the petition itself as well as (its objective),' Rychetsky said.

   Earlier on Tuesday, the court struck down an attempt by the anti- Lisbon senators to exclude Rychetsky from the case over his meeting with Germany's new ambassador to Prague, Johannes Haindl, on September 16, or two weeks before filing their complaint.

   The Czech president, a treaty opponent and a party to the case, did not attend the hearing and was represented by a lawyer who presented his earlier arguments, including the question of whether the treaty should be submitted to a referendum.

   European Affairs Minister Stefan Fuele attended on behalf of the pro-Lisbon caretaker government. The parliament was represented by the heads of its two chambers, the lower house's Miloslav Vlcek and Senate's Premysl Sobotka.

   The top Czech court is reviewing the Lisbon Treaty for the second time.

   Its 15 judges ruled in November 2008 that several key sections of the pact were 'not at odds' with the Czech constitution, triggering widespread expectations that it would again rule in favour of the pact.

   However, the latest case poses only one hurdle to the accord's entering into force.

   In a separate last-minute obstacle, Klaus has demanded that the Czech Republic receive an exemption from the EU's Charter of Fundamental Rights, a part of the treaty that he views as a threat to Czech citizens' property rights and the sovereignty of Czech courts.

   He has claimed that the rights charter would enable ethnic Germans expelled from former Czechoslovakia after World War II to sue for their confiscated property in European courts.

   Leaders of EU member states are set to deal with the Klaus opt-out at the upcoming summit later this week.

   The Lisbon Treaty introduces an EU president appointed by national leaders and a de-facto foreign minister. It strips member countries of veto rights in most fields.