Czech Constitutional Court postpones hearing on Lisbon treaty

The court will now withdraw for deliberations, Rychetsky said. The evidence was submitted this morning and comprehensive final proposals were submitted in the afternoon.

Senator Jiri Oberfalzer (the Civic Democratic Party, ODS) said after the ratification of the Lisbon treaty the EU would be transformed into a community with federal elements, an "embryonic federation."

Oberfalzer also highlighted the cancellation of veto in a number of EU affairs.

Government representative Stefan Fuele said the treaty was not at variance with the Czech constitution.

The complaining senators came up with a number of reservations about the Lisbon treaty but also against the Maastricht and Rome treaties which Lisbon, if implemented, would largely amend.

"Nothing but a name will remain from the two treaties," Oberfalzer said,

In a number of their objections the senators said the Lisbon treaty limits the Czech Republic's sovereignty and transfers powers to the EU.

Oberfalzer said the comprehensive and confusing amendment is inconsistent with the principle of rule of law.

Oberfalzer said the Lisbon treaty created foundations for EU common defence. "The questions of defence are among those that must not be transferred if the Czech Republic is to be a sovereign state," Oberfalzer said.

He also spoke about the option of withdrawal from the EU. "As defined in the Lisbon treaty, it de facto limits sovereignty as it sets conditions, which means barriers," Oberfalzer said.

Jaroslav Kuba, lawyer for the senators' group, proposed that the court decide that the Lisbon treaty was at variance with the Czech constitutional order.

Lawyer Ales Pejchal, who represents President Vaclav Klaus, an opponent of the treaty, mainly quoted his views. Pejchal said the Lisbon treaty was not only a formal and administrative document as it fundamentally altered the nature of European integration.

"We are to give up the position of a sovereign state," Pejchal said.

"The government has fully checked the Lisbon treaty and the senators' proposal with a thorough legal analysis and it has come to the conclusion that the treaty's challenged parts are not at variance with the constitutional order," Fuele said.

The Czech Republic is the last EU country not have signed the Lisbon treaty. Klaus waits for the outcome of the senators' complaint, but he has also voiced other objections to it.

Autor: ČTK
www.ctk.cz