24.06.2008 - Czech court-assessment of EU treaty part of ratification-lawyers
The Senate, the upper house of parliament, sent the treaty to the Constitutional Court on the initiative of the senior ruling Civic Democrats (ODS) to see whether it is in harmony with the Czech constitution.
Czech lawyers discussed the legal and institutional aspects of the Lisbon treaty to reform the EU institutions at a two-day seminar in Trest, organised by the State and Law Institute in cooperation with Deputy PM for European Affairs Alexandr Vondra's office.
The participants were to assess the situation in the ratification process's half-time after the Irish "No" and focus on the treaty's possible impact on national Police initiate charges against Czech-Afghan chamber head ...
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The experts primarily debated the extended control of the European agenda by national parliaments of the EU member states and a new position of the EU's Charter of Fundamental Rights.
The economic, social and culture rights, such as the right to work and decent housing, embedded in the charter, should be understood rather as some principles, and consequently no direct legal complaints could be filed over their violation, Malir added, referring to the conference's debate.
The participants have not adopted any final document, but the seminar has fulfilled the aim to bring representatives of the state administration and academic lawyers' community together to confront and harmonise their legal opinions about the Lisbon treaty, Malir said.
However, the seminar was influenced by the fact that the Irish rejected the document in a referendum, he concluded.
The European leaders agreed at a summit in Brussels last Friday that the Lisbon treaty ratification would continue regardless of the Irish "No."
The Czech Republic, one of the eight EU countries not to have ratified the reform treaty yet, pushed through at the EU summit the clause saying that the ratification process in the country would be suspended until the Constitutional Court assesses the treaty's compatibility with Czech law.
(Ceske Noviny)
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