Klaus signs Croatia's EU accession treaty

Prague, June 27 (CTK) - Czech President Vaclav Klaus has signed Croatia's EU accession treaty, completing the ratification process in the Czech Republic, Presidential Office spokesman Radim Ochvat has told CTK.

Czech parliament passed the treaty recently. Croatia is to become the 28th EU state as from July 1, 2013.

The Czech government wanted first that the Chamber of Deputies take a vote on Croatia's treaty together with a Czech opt-out from the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the Lisbon Treaty.

Klaus made the opt-out a condition for his signature under the Lisbon Treaty.

However, the Croatia treaty would not have made it through Czech parliament because the opt-out is rejected by the opposition Social Democrats (CSSD) who have a majority in the Senate.

Croatia applied for EU accession in 2003. The negotiations on membership conditions were launched two years later and completed in June 2011.