by Chris McLaughlin
David Cameron looks set to fail in a backhand deal to scupper the Lisbon treaty following signals that Czech President Vaclav Klaus will reject his call to delay ratification in the hope of a Tory victory.
As deep fissures in Conservative Party unity emerged during its conference in Manchester, Mr Cameron had received no reply from President Klaus to his hand-written plea that he personally block the country’s ratification until after the election of a Tory government.
“Mr Cameron has told President Klaus that if he can hold out for a few months, he’ll be right there with him,” said a Conservative Party source before an official spokesman confirmed to Tribune that no reply had yet been received.
The Czech Republic and Poland are the last European countries to resolve the issue and each was awaiting the outcome of the Irish vote, which last week went overwhelmingly in favour of the treaty. Poland announced that it would ratify “within days”.
However, there were still doubts over President Klaus’ strong opposition to the treaty, which he was threatening to hold up for up to six months under the guise that ratification awaited the outcome of a case currently in the Czech constitutional court.
But during a visit to Brussels for talks with European Union officials, Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer announced that the Czech court has promised to expedite its proceedings, which should be completed by the end of the year.
Prime Minister Fischer said that the Czech Republic is in favour of the treaty and he was “confident” that President Klaus would sign, “not if, but when”.
President Klaus, who boycotted official celebrations in Prague when the republic joined the EU in April 2004, appeared earlier this week to concede that the diplomatic pressure for him to sign is becoming too strong to hold out.
In an oblique reference to Mr Cameron’s overture, he said in answer to a BBC journalist’s question about holding out until after a British election: “I’m afraid the people of Britain should have done something much earlier.” Now, he added, it was: “Too late. After the Irish referendum, there will never be another referendum in Europe.”
Former Europe minister Denis MacShane said: “It is pathetic politics and without precedent for an Opposition leader to try to get a foreign leader to adopt a policy just to damage the elected British Government.
“No Labour leader in opposition has ever behaved as childishly as David Cameron is doing by begging the Czech President to ignore his own party’s and parliament’s support for the Lisbon treaty merely to suit the Tories’ party political interests. This dodgy attempt at a deal shows how unfit he is to lead our nation.”
