Czechs warm to EU Lisbon Treaty: poll

(PRAGUE) - More than six in 10 Czechs want their parliament to ratify the EU's Lisbon Treaty, the latest opinion poll published Wednesday show.

"The majority (64 percent) of Czechs believe that the parliament should ratify the Lisbon Treaty," said the STEM polling, which published the survey.

The Czech Republic currently holds the European Union six-month rotating presidency, but is the only country in the 27-member bloc that has not held a parliamentary vote or referendum on the text.

A poll last July found 53 percent of Czechs were against ratifying the treaty.

Fears the country would lose "prestige" by not signing up to the charter have led to this swing in public opinion, STEM said.

Miloslav Vlcek, the head of the Czech parliament's lower house, said Tuesday that an early February vote on the treaty would be further delayed until later that month.

The ratification process has already been delayed by several months after the Czech Constitutional Court was asked to decide whether the treaty would be compatible with Czech law.

Judges ruled in mid-November that the treaty could be ratified in accordance with the law, putting them at odds with Czech President Vaclav Klaus.

Drawn up as a replacement to the European constitution, the Lisbon Treaty aims to streamline existing EU institutions to make the bloc work more efficiently.

But opponents say it poses a real threat to national sovereignty, pointing to proposals such as the plan to reduce the number of commissioners, meaning not every member state will be represented within the European Commission.