EU "squaring the circle" with Lisbon guarantees: Klaus

(PRAGUE) - Eurosceptic Czech President Vaclav Klaus said that the European Union was "squaring the circle" with guarantees granted to Ireland before its vote on the EU's Lisbon Treaty.

"I find this amusing and above all undignified," Klaus, whose country holds the EU presidency until the end of the month, told Saturday's edition of the Pravo daily.

"We all know that it's impossible to square the circle, but it is exactly what these countries have tried to do. To say that the concessions don't change anything about the Lisbon Treaty is silly," he added.

At a summit in Brussels on Friday, the EU approved guarantees ensuring the EU's reforming text did not hamper Ireland's military neutrality, taxation system and abortion laws.

Irish citizens are set to vote on the treaty in a new referendum in October after rejecting the text a year ago.

Ahead of the summit, Klaus -- who has refused to sign off on his parliament's endorsement until the Irish vote again -- insisted that the guarantees be ratified by the Czech parliament too, or he would refuse to approve it.

But Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer, who chaired the summit, said the guarantees had a treaty status and did not "inspire any desire to reopen the ratification process."

Back in Prague after the summit, he also downplayed the "exchange of opinions" on the status of the guarantees as "a matter of statements, of people saying how they like the treaty."

Almost all the 27 EU members have endorsed the treaty, meant to streamline the way the expanding bloc operates, through parliament.

Only the Czech Republic and Poland must complete the technical ratification, with their presidents delaying the process, while a legal challenge is pending in Germany.