PM Fischer to bring Lisbon Treaty to Rome next Friday

Prague, Nov 5 (CTK) - Prime Minister Jan Fischer will take the Lisbon treaty to Rome next Friday, whereby the ratification process by the Czech Republic will be completed, government sources told CTK Thursday.

The treaty will take effect on December 1 as wished by the Swedish EU presidency.

Fischer will take the treaty to the depository at the Italian Foreign Ministry where EU treaties are preserved.

Individual documents come into force on the first day of the month following the depositing of the ratification letters from the last EU member.

Next Friday, Fischer will leave for a two-day visit to the Vatican. He will use the opportunity to hand the ratification letters to the Italian Foreign Ministry staff in Rome.

Due to the resolute refusal by Euro-sceptical President Vaclav Klaus, the Czech Republic was the last EU country to complete the process of ratification of the treaty.

Klaus only signed it on Tuesday after an EU summit had promised an opt-out to the Czech Republic. It is to be incorporated in the future Croatian accession treaty.

Klaus was also waiting for a decision of the Czech Constitutional Court. It ruled on Tuesday that the document was not at variance with the Czech constitution as claimed by a group of senators who had raised a complaint to this effect.

The Lisbon reform treaty is to upgrade the functioning of the enlarged, 27-member EU. It introduces the posts of president of the European Council and of "European foreign minister."