Czech threat to Lisbon treaty

Ratification of the European Union’s reform treaty could be made more difficult by the fall of the Czech government and its knock-on effect for the EU presidency, which is held by Prague, officials warned on Wednesday.

In Strasbourg, Alexandr Vondra, Czech deputy prime minister, said Prague’s ratification of the Lisbon treaty, which requires the approval of all 27 countries in the EU bloc, could be more problematic after Tuesday night’s vote of no confidence.

“The ratification process is on track . . . but it will be a lot more difficult now to convince people to vote in favour,” he said at the European parliament.

The Czech upper house had been expected to vote on the treaty next month. But there were some suggestions on Wednesday that this might now be postponed because of the fluid domestic situation.

In Ireland, meanwhile, Micheal Martin, foreign minister was reported as saying the development made his country’s talks over revisions ahead of new referendum on the Lisbon treaty “more complex”.

The treaty was vetoed in a referendum in Ireland last year but the country agreed to hold a second vote provided certain guarantees, in areas such as tax policy and military ventures, were forthcoming. These discussions were being held with the Czech Republic in its capacity as holder of the rotating EU presidency.

“Now we have to see how things evolve with the Czech presidency and who we will be negotiating with . . . that’s a bit more complex than we would have anticipated,” the Irish minister said.

However, José Manuel Barroso, the European Commission president, urged countries not to let the treaty fall victim to local political forces. “It should not be used as a weapon on domestic issues,” he said.

In Brussels, senior EU officials continued to insist that the Czechs would continue to hold and run the presidency in “business as usual” fashion. They pointed out that this was not the first time that a national government had fallen in the course of holding the rotating office.

Mirek Topolanek, in his role as caretaker prime minister, will greet Barack Obama, the US president, as planned when they met in Prague on April 5, for instance.

But after an already bumpy and crisis-strewn start to the Czech presidency, some diplomats seemed to be concerned that the next three months could be even more ineffectual, especially in the area of foreign policy.

The timing is also particularly unkind, with the economic crisis continuing to pose big challenges for the bloc and the timing of the parliamentary elections in June meaning that some key legislation needs to be sorted out before then and texts agreed between member states and lawmakers.