Czech Const.Court to discuss Lisbon treaty on Oct 27

A group of Czech right-wing senators asked the court to assess whether the Lisbon treaty is compatible with the Czech constitution.

The Czech Republic is the last country yet to ratify the treaty. Only the signature of President Vaclav Klaus is missing.

The date of the hearing will not be postponed even if the Civic Democrat (ODS) senators who filed the complaint against the treaty extend it to include a request that the court assess the treaty as a whole, Langasek said.

However, he said earlier the extension of the complaint, envisaged by the senators, would delay the process its examination.

On October 27, the Constitutional Court will hear the arguments of the complaining senators, Klaus, and representatives of the government, the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.

It is not known whether the court will announce its verdict on the same day. Usually it does so but mainly in complex cases the verdict is often announced later.

The Constitutional Court asked all the participations in the public hearing to submit their positions on the complaint. It has received only the position of the Chamber so far.

On October 9, Klaus unexpectedly demanded for Czechs an opt-out from the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights that is part of the Lisbon treaty.

According to Klaus, the charter might enable German deportees to claim their former property on Czech soil, confiscated from them after World War Two on the basis of the Benes decrees.

However, most Czech lawyers reject this. The Czech government does not share Klaus's fear either.

Autor: ČTK
www.ctk.cz