Janek Lasocki

As anyone with even just a cursory interest in EU affairs will have noticed, the ratification process of the Lisbon Treaty is almost complete. The one real obstruction before the finish line goes by the name of Vaclav Klaus, President of the Czech Republic. Although he seems to have conceded he cannot withhold his signature indefinitely or even until the British general election expected in May, he has come up with a new condition: a new opt-out for the Czechs from the Treaty, similar to that already negotiated for by the British and Poles. Senior MEP Edward McMillan-Scott, Vice President of the European Parliament, yesterday became the first voice from the assembly to appeal to the Czechs to reconsider such a move.