Czech Republic stays out of EU fiscal pact, for now

(BRUSSELS) - The Czech Republic refused to join an EU pact on fiscal discipline at a summit on Monday, citing the need to secure ratification back home first, officials and diplomats said.

"All countries declared their intention to take part in the fiscal pact except Britain and the Czech Republic," Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt told reporters on the sidelines of an EU summit in Brussels.

Reinfeldt said his Czech counterpart cited "ratification reasons" for refusing to commit to the pact.

"They cannot accept (the pact) today. They have a pretty cumbersome process to ratify the whole thing," an EU diplomat told AFP.

Earlier this month, Czech President Vaclav Klaus, an ardent eurosceptic, slammed the centre-right government's idea to put the "fiscal compact" to a referendum.