Barroso condemns talk of reopening treaty ratification

Any ideas of reopening the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty across Europe were condemned today as “absurd” and “surreal”.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso was referring to efforts by the Czech president to change the terms of the document, even though the Czech parliament has already approved it.

But the remarks were also seen as a warning to UK Conservative Party leader David Cameron, who has vowed to hold a referendum if he is elected to Number 10 next year and if the Czech wrangle is still going on.

Frantic efforts are going on in Brussels and Prague to resolve a new Treaty crisis caused by a last-minute attempt by Czech President Vaclav Klaus to de-rail the plan.

Days after Ireland finally approved the Treaty in a second referendum, Mr Klaus announced he would not sign the document until he was granted a UK style “opt-out” from the Charter of Fundamental Rights, which the Treaty enshrines as a legally-binding statement of existing basic social rights in the EU.

Today, Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer saw Mr Barroso to discuss what to do next. Afterwards, both men insisted there was no question of opening up the treaty for re-ratification.

Mr Barroso declared: “After the resounding yes vote in the Irish referendum, the democratic decision approving the Lisbon Treaty has now been taken in all 27 member states, whose governments have negotiated and signed the Treaty.

“At this stage, there is only one country that has not yet completed the ratification process, namely the Czech Republic.”

Asked if dealing with Mr Klaus’s demands risked reopening the ratification process in the other 26 member states, Mr Barroso replied: “It makes no sense to reopen the ratification process. It would be completely absurd. It would be surreal, to reopen the Lisbon Treaty ratification process in the 26 other member states”.

Mr Fischer said: “We have to choose an option which does not entail reopening the treaty, which is something which is completely unimaginable”.

The Czech row amounts to a power battle between the deeply eurosceptic Mr Klaus and his pro-EU prime minister, who is now expected to deliver a diplomatic solution to EU leaders at a summit at the end of this month.

Today he gave no hint of the formula which could be adopted but insisted: “I am convinced there will be full ratification at some stage. The reputation of the Czech republic is at stake.”

Mr Klaus said all he wanted was a simple “footnote” in the Treaty reflecting his concerns that the charter would enable the families of Germans expelled from the Czech Republic after the Second World War as Nazi collaborators to make legal claims for the return of confiscated property.

The move has puzzled lawyers and politicians, who say that issue has already been resolved long ago by the Czech constitutional court.

Nevertheless Mr Fischer said he will try to find a form of words to appease his president without the Treaty unravelling.

“We will continue looking for a solution with the Czech president. This is an internal matter for the Czech Republic. We have to negotiate it. We have to make sure the Czech Republic is strong and credible.”

Apart from Mr Klaus’s last-minute objection, there is also a formal objection to the Treaty lodged with the Czech constitutional court by a group of Czech senators who share the president’s anti-EU views.

It is likely to be thrown out – but there are no guarantees that Mr Klaus will not then find other obstacles to throw in the Treaty’s path.

Mr Barroso, who is now waiting to appoint his new Commission team and to help select the new “President of Europe and ”EU foreign Minister“ created by the Lisbon Treaty, remarked: ”We fully respect the constitutional order of the Czech Republic.

“It is therefore clear that we have to wait for the conclusion of the procedure in the Constitutional Court in the Czech Republic.

“But as soon as this is done, the judgment permitting, we expect the Czech Republic to honour the commitments it has taken. It is in the interests of nobody, least of all the interests of the Czech Republic, to delay matters further.”