Czech president Vaclav Klaus today welcomed a proposal by the European Union presidency for removing his objections to signing the Lisbon Treaty, increasing the chances of it going into force.
The Czech Republic is the only EU member state which has not yet ratified the treaty.
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The Czech government has been negotiating his demands with Sweden, which holds the EU's presidency until the end of the year, and wants to secure approval for the opt-out at an EU summit in Brussels next week.
"The president ... received the Swedish presidency's proposal which is a response to his request related to the Lisbon Treaty ratification in the Czech Republic," Mr Klaus's office said in a statement. "This proposal corresponds to what the president has envisioned and it is possible to work with it further."
Mr Klaus's office did not say what the proposal was.
The Swedish EU presidency did not immediately comment on MR Klaus's remarks. The European Commission, the EU executive, declined immediate comment.
Minister for European Affairs Stefan Fuele told a parliamentary committee the Czechs Republic wanted to be added to the list of countries that have an opt-out from the Charter of Fundamental Rights. The list includes Britain and Poland.
2. Czechs accept modified missile shield role
PRAGUE — The Czech Republic agreed on Friday to host elements of the reformulated American missile defense system after Vice President Joseph R. Biden flew here to patch up relations damaged when President Obama canceled plans to deploy a sophisticated radar station on Czech soil.
Jan Fischer, the Czech prime minister, said his country would participate in the new anti-missile shield, although neither he nor Mr. Biden gave details about how. Poland agreed during an earlier stop in Mr. Biden’s swing through the region to accept some of the mobile SM-3 interceptors at the heart of Mr. Obama’s reduced plan.
...The deals securing Polish and Czech involvement in the new system may go a long way toward reassuring Eastern Europe of America’s continuing commitment to its security. Many in this region interpreted Mr. Obama’s decision to scrap former President George W. Bush’s missile defense system, which was to have been based in Poland and the Czech Republic, as appeasement of Russia, which had strongly objected to it as a threat to its own nuclear arsenal.
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The plan advanced by Mr. Obama would use smaller, mobile SM-3 interceptors to counter short- and medium-range missiles, based at first aboard Aegis-equipped ships and later on land in Eastern Europe. Although Mr. Obama attributed the switch to the changing assessment of the Iranian threat and the availability of new technology, the decision was welcomed in Russia as a concession and bemoaned in Eastern Europe for the same reason.
read more @ ny times
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