Lisbon Treaty

Relieved EU leaders have hailed Ireland's vote to accept the Lisbon reform treaty, but almost immediately attention has turned to the last two nations holding up efforts to streamline the European Union decision-making process.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, over the weekend, called for new pressure on the obstinate leaders of Poland and the Czech Republic, Presidents Lech Kaczynski and Vaclav Klaus.

"France wants the states, which have not yet done so, to finish the ratification process as quickly as possible, so that the Lisbon Treaty can be implemented before the end of the year," Sarkozy said in a statement.

The German government said it was "very happy" about the outcome of the Irish vote, but has been very slow to comment openly on the obstruction still posed by Prague and Warsaw.

'Stonewalling by Poles and Czechs must stop'

Not so somewhat lesser figures in Chancellor Merkel's Christian Democratic Union. Kurt Lauk, head of the CDU Economic Council, did not mince words when he said on Sunday that "the German government, the European parliament and the Council of Europe must now put massive pressure on Poland and the Czech Republic to ratify the treaty and to demonstrate that they remain reliable and loyal partners in Europe."

"The stonewalling tactics of Poland and the Czech Republic must be rigorously opposed," Lauk said.

Poland's President Lech Kaczynski said prior to the Irish referendum that he would sign the treaty if Ireland voted 'yes'. But, the euroskeptic president made no immediate comment on the Irish result.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, on the other hand, called for "quick action" and said he hoped President Kaczynski would sign the treaty as promised. "Europe is waiting," he said.

Czech President Vaclav Klaus, one of the most vocal critics of the Lisbon Treaty, has said he would not sign the accord until the country's highest court rules on the constitutionality of the charter.

In Prague on Friday, as the Irish were going to the polls, the High Court ordered the president to hold off signing the treaty until it ruled on an anti-Lisbon petition filed by a group of senators.

British conservatives are also skeptical

Doubts also linger in Britain, where the opposition Tories have said that if they win the national election next year, they will call a referendum. But Conservative party leader David Cameron has avoided saying what he would do in the event Poland and the Czech Republic ratify the treaty before then.

Cameron said the "problem" with the Lisbon Treaty was that "it's taking powers away from the national state, centralizing them in Europe, and we don't think that's the right approach."

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, however, said the result of the Irish vote cleared the way for the EU "to focus on the issues that matter most to Europeans – a sustained economic recovery, security, tackling global poverty and action on climate change."

The Lisbon Treaty is meant to streamline the administrative and decision-making processes in the 27-nation bloc and untangle much of the EU's cumbersome bureaucracy. It is often the case now that quick and effective responses on weighty issues are delayed, or fail to materialize altogether, because action requires unanimous decisions.

gb/Reuters/dpa/AFP
Editor: Andreas Illmer