President Václav Klaus, well-known for his negative stance toward the EU and the Lisbon Treaty, signed five copies of the document on his Monday visit to the south Moravian capital of Brno. Lidové noviny reported that some 30 people waited their turns in line for Klaus’s signature on their symbolic copies in the Dobrovský bookstore.
Apolena Rychlíková, a 20-year-old student from Brno and the organiser of the happening, told the newspaper that there were 70 people expected altogether, but, due to the book signing being rather short, they did not manage to come in time.
According to the daily, Klaus signed the treaty copies after being reassured that they were only fakes but he refused to sign more than the above-mentioned five and asked the students which organisation they were from.
“I have given symbolical 30 pages of the treaty to the President since it is one of the few documents on which I care for his signature,” Apolena Rychlíková told Lidové noviny and explained that the idea struck her a week ago as she was walking past the bookstore.
Klaus refused to sign the Lisbon Treaty after it was endorsed by the upper chamber a month ago, and expressed disappointment with some of the senators who changed their minds and supported the document. One week later he met with three senators representing the group that rejected the treaty and decided to send it to be analysed by the Constitutional Court yet again. Klaus promised the senators that he would wait for the court’s ruling and proclaimed the treaty to be dead anyway because of last year’s rejection in a referendum in Ireland.
