Brussels - There is no reason to hold up ratification of the European Union's Lisbon Treaty, the head of the EU's executive Jose Manuel Barroso, said Tuesday - following the Czech constitutional court verdict clearing the treaty. "I'm extremely pleased that the Czech Constitutional Court has cleared the way for the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty (...) I believe that no further unnecessary delays should prevent the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty," Barroso said in a statement.
Barroso was speaking hours after the court ruled that the Lisbon Treaty, which is intended to streamline EU decision-making and boost its international profile, was in line with Czech law.
The ruling clears the way for Czech President Vaclav Klaus to ratify the treaty. Since all other EU states have already done so, that would be enough to bring the treaty into force.
Klaus, who says that the treaty would be bad for his country, has said that he would only sign it if the EU promises that the attached Charter of Fundamental Rights would not allow ethnic Germans expelled from Czechslovakia in 1945 to claim their homes back.
EU leaders gave that guarantee at a summit on Thursday.
The speaker of the European Parliament, Jerzy Buzek, also welcomed the court ruling, saying that he was "very confident" that Klaus would sign soon.
Barroso called on the EU's rotating presidency, held by Sweden, to "move forward as quickly as possible" to gather nominations for the two new jobs created by the treaty: the president of the council of EU member states and its de facto foreign minister.
EU diplomats said Tuesday that the presidency was likely to call an emergency summit as soon as Klaus made clear when he would sign, with November 12 and November 19 the dates most often mentioned.
