The latest condition by Czech President Vaclav Klaus for his signature to the European Union's Lisbon Treaty could be met without re-opening the pact's ratification process, CTK news agency reported, citing a presidential aide, according to dpa. Klaus, the last obstacle to the treaty's coming to force, has demanded that the Czech Republic get an exemption from the treaty's Charter of Fundamental Rights before he ratifies it. President's chief of staff Jiri Weigl said that options for meeting the condition include the path Brussels chose to give guarantees to Ireland, the agency report said. Before Irish voters cleared the treaty in a rerun referendum on October 2, the EU promised them that the new EU rules would not force their largely Catholic country to allow abortion and give up military neutrality. Brussels managed to do so without a new round of ratification of the pact. Instead, EU leaders provided Ireland with a political declaration and vowed that their countries would make it legally binding when ratifying the next EU treaty, most likely Croatia's accession deal. Weigl appeared to soften previous statements by another Klaus aide, Ladislav Jakl, who repeatedly ruled out that the president would be satisfied with the Irish path. The Czech government, which is prepared to table the president's demand in Brussels, has countered that a new round of ratification was not feasible.
