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More troubles for EU as Czech Republic dithers over Lisbon ratification

by Johnny Summerton | June 20, 2008 at 09:10 am | 96 views | add comment

In what won't come as a surprise to many EU-watchers, the Czech Republic may become the second country to fail to ratify the Lisbon treaty.

It was always on the cards that after the Irish, the Czechs would also throw the proverbial spanner in the works. And it seems only now - almost at the last moment - that EU leaders are willing to face up to the facts publicly.

EU leaders have admitted that the Czech Republic may not be able to ratify the Lisbon Treaty, which has already been rejected by the Irish.

The declaration, to be agreed at an EU summit in Brussels, will note that the Czechs cannot complete ratification for the moment, officials said.

Of course this could all have been avoided with just a little more forward thinking. Lisbon was "Plan B" after the failure of the proposed Constitution ("Plan A") a couple of years ago.

If anyone has a "Plan C", "D" or "E" maybe they could submit it to the European Commission for further consideration.