The expected approval of the treaty by the House of Lords would mean that the Lisbon treaty, which was rejected by Irish voters last week, would not be in the same situation as the previous European constitution that suffered a failure in the referenda in France and Netherlands. "There will be a passionate discussion around it, but I rather expect it [the treaty] to make it through [House of Lords], which will naturally anticipate the atmosphere and debate EU's Barroso to Hold Crisis Talks After Irish Treaty Rejection ...
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Largest number of children since 1993 born in CzechRep last year ... at the [European] Council since in some aspects it would mean that the situation would be slightly different than in 2005," Vondra (senior ruling Civic Democrats, ODS) told deputies. The results of referenda in France and Netherlands in 2005 buried the project of the European constitution that was replaced by the Lisbon treaty to reform European institutions. The document must be ratified by all 27 member states to take effect. Vondra said it would not be productive if the European leaders tried to exert pressure on anyone over the Lisbon treaty's ratification. "It is important that every country bears responsibility for the course of the process and its result," Vondra pointed out. Vondra today also reiterated that the Irish "no" clearly means that the treaty would not take effect by January 2009 when the Czech Republic will take up EU presidency for six months. Vondra said previously that the Czech government was preparing a scenario for EU presidency without the Lisbon treaty. The media speculated that the Czech Republic would have advantages during the presidency if the treaty were not ratified as Czech president and PM would then keep most of the representative tasks, while otherwise the new EC president and common EU "foreign minister" would assume them. Vondra did not say what stance the Czech government would take on the further ratification of the Lisbon treaty at the EU summit. Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek (ODS) said the Czech Republic has interrupted the process of ratification of the Lisbon treaty since the upper house of parliament, the Senate, sent it to the Constitutional Court for a check to see whether it is in harmony with the Czech constitution. Topolanek said the Czech Republic would now discuss whether it would be legitimate to continue the ratification process after the Irish "no." President Vaclav Klaus, who has been a long-term critic of the Lisbon treaty, welcomed the decision of Irish voters.
"The Lisbon treaty project ended today with the Irish voters' decision and its ratification cannot continue," he said in reaction. Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg (for Greens), on the contrary, said there was no reason to halt the ratification process in the Czech Republic. A total of 18 EU countries have ratified the treaty until now, shiel only Ireland rejected it.
(Ceske Noviny)
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