* Czech President Klaus wants opt-out on rights charter
* Klaus says fears post-war property claims
* Klaus will be last EU leader to sign Lisbon treaty
(Adds Hungary's PM, paragraphs 7-8)
By Jan Korselt
PRAGUE, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Czech President Vaclav Klaus set
out his terms on Friday for signing the EU's Lisbon reform
treaty, demanding an exemption to protect Prague from post-war
property claims and safeguard the sovereignty of the judiciary.
Klaus's demands further complicate the European Union's
efforts to implement reforms to give the bloc more global clout.
He will be the only EU leader who has not ratified the treaty
once the Polish president signs it on Saturday.
Klaus said the Czech government should follow the example of
Britain and Poland, which won opt-outs on the application of
some of the provisions of a Charter of Fundamental Rights which
will be given binding force when the Lisbon treaty is ratified.
"Before ratification, the Czech Republic must, additionally
at least, negotiate a similar exemption," Klaus told reporters.
"I believe that this exemption can be resolved quickly."
Klaus says the treaty would create a European superstate
that gives too much power to Brussels, and has refused to ratify
it even though the Czech parliament has approved it.
[]
He has been resisting the rest of the EU as well as most
Czech political parties, isolating the central European country
which already lost some credibility when its government
collapsed during the Czech term as EU president in March.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner has ruled out any
change to the treaty to accommodate Klaus, and Hungarian Prime
Minister Gordon Bajnai urged the Czech leader on Friday to sign.
"There is a lot to do and there is no reason to paralyse the
operations of the European institutions. So I think it would be
important that the president of the Czech Republic is also
supporting this process by his signature," Bajnai told a news
conference during a visit to London.
Another big obstacle to the treaty, which would create the
post of a long-term EU president and a more powerful foreign
policy chief and streamline decision-making, was removed when
Irish voters backed it in a referendum last Friday.
In the Czech Republic, foreign policy is conducted by the
government, which would have to negotiate the demands.
Prime Minister Jan Fischer said his interim cabinet would
discuss the matter on Monday, but he believed ratification could
still be completed by year-end. He said previous analyses have
found fears of property claims groundless. []
GERMAN CARD BACK IN PLAY
Klaus said he feared that claimants of property, confiscated
from some 3 million Germans expelled from Czechoslovakia after
World War Two, could circumvent the Czech judicial system under
the Lisbon treaty and go directly to the highest EU court.
A fear of property claims was a factor in Czech politics in
the 1990s, after the end of communism, but Czech courts have
thrown out claims brought by some of the expellees.
Germany is the Czechs' key market and source of foreign
investment, and relations between the two countries' people have
been generally warm.
Poland's desire for an opt-out was also prompted partly by
fears of German property claims, as well as by efforts to
safeguard conservative family laws. []
It could be legally complicated for the Czech Republic to
win a similar protocol quickly because this would in theory mean
renegotiating the treaty.
It might be easier to approve a declaration by EU leaders,
but would not be part of the treaty.
A similar procedure was followed in the case of Ireland to
offer its citizens guarantees on neutrality, taxation and
abortion to convince them to back the treaty.
But there will be little willingness to accommodate Klaus.
"If I were the EU member states, I wouldn't really be minded
to give Klaus what he wants. He has expressed nothing but
hostility towards this thing and he suddenly says he'll do it
'if'," said Hugo Brady from the Centre for European Policy
Studies.
Czechs have been largely indifferent to the treaty and the
turmoil around ratification, though many would like to see the
affair to be over.
"I think Klaus no longer has a chance to turn anything
around," said David Suchanek, a 24-year old construction
engineer.
