 | Czech president signs Lisbon Treaty |
11/3/2009 3:36:18 PM
The president of the Czech Republic has signed the European Union's Lisbon Treaty, completing the ratification process of a charter aimed at streamlining decision making in the 27-nation bloc.
Vaclav Klaus, who had long argued against the reform treaty, added his signature on Tuesday, after the Czech consitutional court cleared the document.
It ruled that the treaty, which has already been ratified by all other EU nations, does not violate the country's constitution.
After signing the document, Klaus said: "I had expected the court ruling and I respect it, although I fundamentally disagree with its content and justification".
The treaty will bring into force the EU's plan to overhaul its institutions, elect its first-ever long-term president and choose a foreign representative.
'Enormous changes'
Klaus had raised concern over the pact, saying it could turn the EU into a super state with little democratic control.
The president sought an opt-out from the treaty nearly three weeks ago, after Prague's parliament had earlier ratified it, in an attempt to ensure the treaty would not allow ethnic Germans expelled from former Czechoslovakia after the second world war to reclaim their property.
Hamish Macdonald, Al Jazeera's correspondent in London, said the treaty will "pave the way for some pretty enormous changes".
"Perhaps the most high-profile of which will mean there will now be an EU president, a figurehead that is effectively the chairman of the EU council," he said.
"It will also give the European Union a senior foreign policy position, if you like a foreign minister, that will deal with things like Iran and the nuclear debate, Russia and also Afghanistan."
The EU president, who needs to be elected unanimously, will serve a two-and-a-half-year term, strengthening the current system of a six-month presidency that states hold in turn.
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