Prague - The Czech Republic's eurosceptic President Vaclav Klaus described the recent verdict by Germany's top court that the stalled EU Lisbon treaty was compatible with the country's constitution as both "toothless and predictable" Thursday. Germany's Constitutional Court ruled this week that the treaty, which is designed to boost EU decision-making through streamlining its institutions, is compatible with German law.
But the court also halted ratification until the German parliament boosts its own role to prevent the reformed EU from assuming national powers without a sufficient parliamentary approval.
Klaus, probably the most eurosceptic head of state within the EU, slammed that verdict in a first-person editorial piece published Thursday.
"I do not believe that it is possible to annul the known defects of the Lisbon Treaty by an accompanying law," Klaus wrote in the Mlada Fronta Dnes daily.
"That would have been too simple," the op-ed continued. "The vast shift of competences and decision-making mechanisms in the EU cannot be changed by this law."
The Lisbon Treaty has been stalled since Irish voters rejected it in a June 2008 referendum. The EU hopes that a new Irish vote in October would bring the pact back to life. All 27 members must ratify it before it comes to force, but only Ireland has put it to a plebiscite.
Klaus, whose signature is required to complete the Czech ratification, called the verdict "a result known in advance". He also wrote that the judges based their decision on "the dominant paradigm of beneficial influence of deeper European integration".
"Thereby they, not incidentally, do not propose to solve the clash between the treaty and the constitution by changing the treaty, but rather (by changing) the domestic legislation," the president wrote. "I fundamentally do not share this paradigm."
Klaus, who rejects the treaty as a threat to national sovereignty and an inconvenient deal for small EU countries, is dragging out its ratification in the Czech Republic.
The Czech bicameral parliament finished voting on the accord in May. But Klaus said that he would make up his mind on whether to ink the pact only after all other EU members complete ratification.
The Lisbon treaty also awaits a presidential signature in Poland, whose eurosceptic President Lech Kaczynski said that he would approve the accord only after Ireland withdraws its rejection.
