PRAGUE, Oct 17 (Reuters) - The European Union's Lisbon
reform treaty has progressed too far to stop, Czech President
Vaclav Klaus, the bloc's sole remaining leader to sign the
document, said in a newspaper interview on Saturday.
The staunch eurosceptic stunned the 27-member bloc this
month when he demanded an opt-out clause to shield the Czech
Republic from property claims from ethnic Germans expelled from
the country after World War Two.
But on Saturday, he told Lidove Noviny that, despite his
continued opposition to the charter, it was too late to stop it.
"I do not consider the Lisbon Treaty to be a good thing for
Europe, for the freedom of Europe, or for the Czech Republic,"
Klaus told Lidove Noviny.
"However, the train has already travelled so fast and so far
that I guess it will not be possible to stop it or turn it
around, however much we would wish to."
Klaus sees the treaty as an attempt to create a European
super-state that will rob nations of their sovereignty.
He is waiting for a ruling by the Constitutional Court on a
challenge to the treaty filed by a group of Czech Senators
before signing. The court will hold a hearing on Oct. 27.
Last week, Klaus's office said he would demand an exception
to the treaty similar to those received by countries like Poland
and Ireland.
That raised concern that such a change could require new
negotiations and ratification among all EU members, an extremely
difficult task since the approval process is finished in the
remaining 26 EU states.
But on Saturday he indicated that was not his aim.
"I never said that is necessary that my 'footnote' would
have to be ratified by all member states, along with the whole
Lisbon treaty again," he said.
"Similar to that, I have never said that guarantees similar
to those that the European Council gave to the Irish... would
not be sufficient for me."
Ireland's guarantee reiterated its neutrality, taxation and
abortion laws would not be undermined by the Lisbon Treaty.
He said, as in the Irish case, such a guarantee would have
no legal force until the next treaty -- expected to be a deal
allowing Croatia's accession -- came up for ratification by all
member states.
Klaus also dismissed speculation that he could be trying to
stall approval of the treaty until the next British election so
that the opposition Conservatives, who are expected to win,
could launch a referendum and topple Lisbon.
"I will not and cannot wait for the British election. They
would have to hold it in the coming days or weeks," Klaus said.
His last minute opposition has resounded with voters in the
Czech Republic, where anxiety over the post-war expulsion of the
3 million Sudeten Germans still surfaces.
A poll showed this week that 65 percent of Czechs backed
Klaus because they feared laws expelling Germans could be
circumvented.
(Reporting by Michael Winfrey; Editing by Louise Ireland)
