(PRAGUE) - President Vaclav Klaus said he hopes the Czech Republic's highest court or its senate will block ratification of the EU's troubled Lisbon Treaty, in a newspaper interview on Thursday.

"I hope that the Constitutional Court or Senate will not allow adoption of the Lisbon Treaty here," Klaus -- well known for his euroscepticism -- told the Lidove Noviny newspaper.

Klaus also hit out at French efforts to put the treaty back on the ratification track after its rejection by Irish voters last month. France took over the rotating EU presidency on Tuesday.

"I expect a lot of pressure to create a European Union 'a la France'," he said.

"Our view is necessarily different and therefore we must make an effort that the European Union does not develop in the way France and the refused Lisbon Treaty is pushing for."

The Czech head of state backed Polish counterpart Lech Kaczynski's declaration Tuesday that he will not sign the Lisbon Treaty on Tuesday, but he refused to say in the interview if he would do likewise himself.

While some EU member states are keen to push on quickly with ratification, the Czech Republic is a notable exception, with a strong faction within the senior governing party, the Civic Democrats, sharing Klaus's viewpoint.

EU leaders had to accommodate Prague's reservations at their recent summit in Brussels.

Ratification of the Lisbon Treaty is currently stalled in the Czech Republic while its highest court examines whether it is in conformity with the nation's constitution.

The Civic Democrats have an overall majority in the upper house of parliament, the Senate, and thus could block ratification of the treaty there, political analysts say.

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