EU working on Czech Lisbon Treaty opt-out: Swedish PM
(STOCKHOLM) - The European Union is working on a solution to Czech demands for an opt-out from the Lisbon Treaty and is confident Prague will ratify the text, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt said Wednesday.
"As (Czech President) Vaclav Klaus has opened up for a ratification at the weekend, and after consultations, I feel confident that if we have this (opt-out) in place we will have a Czech ratification after that," Reinfeldt said.
"They're asking for an opt-out and we're working to get it in place," he said.
Klaus, a Eurosceptic and the last European Union leader holding out on signing the EU's reforming Lisbon Treaty, suggested in an interview with a Czech newspaper published on Saturday that he would ultimately sign the text.
He has angered EU partners by demanding an opt-out to make sure that ethnic Germans forced out of the country after World War II cannot claim their property back.
"I am consulting the Czechs on different levels to see that happen and we are of course engaged in discussions with other member states," Reinfeldt said, adding he expected the issue to be discussed at an EU summit in Brussels on Oct 29.
Sweden, which currently holds the EU presidency, is seeking assurances from Prague that it will indeed sign the treaty once a solution is found.
The Lisbon Treaty, designed to streamline governance in the 27-nation bloc, must be ratified by all EU members to take effect.
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