On 13 November in Rome, the Czechs finally ratified the Lisbon Treaty. The last member state to do so, this momentous event ended years of writing, revising, and ratifying. It also marked the beginning of any equally complex process of interpreting and implementing the treaty. The ratification process was not certainly not without controversy. The month before, the Irish approved the Lisbon Treaty. Ireland was the only member state to hold a referendum, and it even did so twice, when the first answer (‘no!’) was not what it was looking for. Euro-skeptic Czech President Klaus was determined to block ratification, and was supported by British opposition leader David Cameron, who apparently wrote him a letter of support, something along the lines of ‘keep resisting, we’ll join you soon’. But the pressure grew too much, and the treaty has finally been formally approved, and will come into force 1 December 2009.

Photo: Flickr, Storm Crypt

Being an official EU website, EUROPA – Treaty of Lisbon is of course lacking in critical analysis, but it does provide a good base from which to keep in touch with implementation, which begins on the 1st of December, and will be useful to refer back to in the coming months. The homepage provides relevant news, while links allow readers to explore a summary of the Treaty, FAQs, and country-specific information. For the very keen, there’s also a link to the full text of the Treaty. If you get through it, you’ll be among a select few, which doesn’t even include all top EU officials - on the eve of the first Irish referendum, Irish Commissioner Charlie McCreevy infamously announced that of course he had not read the full text, and that no sane person would.

EUROPA – Treaty of Lisbon

Photo: Flickr, openDemocracy

The former Irish President expressed gratitude to her supporters, but politely affirmed that she would not stand for the Presidency. The new position of European Council President will be created by the Lisbon Treaty, pending ratification of the Treaty by the Czech Republic. While former British Prime Minister Tony Blair is seen as the front-runner, he has generated huge opposition from those who say his role in the Iraq war disqualifies him.

Robinson declined the nomination because of her current focus on climate change, with special attention paid to its impact on developing countries. Climate justice, she said, is an urgent and demanding topic, disallowing her the time to consider the top EU position.

Robinson has a mass following, the campaign for her candidacy being driven by civilians, rather than national politicians and advisors (as is more the case with Blair). The largest Facebook group advocating her candidacy for the post is just shy of 7000 members, a strong contrast to Blair, who seems to have more groups created against his prospective presidency than for it.

As No 10 Downing Street has apparently began lobbying for Blair’s candidacy, long-time Luxembourg premier Jean-Claude Juncker officially declared his interest in obtaining the position himself. Though he comes from one of the EU’s smallest member-states, he can certainly not be accused of coming from a Euro-skeptic state, as is the case with Blair. While the BeNeLux countries strongly disapprove of Blair’s candidacy, it is not yet clear if they will stand united behind Juncker. Rumour has it that Dutch Prime Minister Jan-Peter Balkenende has been subtly lobbying for the post as well.

With the European Council meeting this week, speculation will certainly heat up, though of course still dampened by the delay of Czech ratification.

Photo: www.flickr.com/ TPCOM

After Ireland’s positive referendum and Polands ratification of the Lisbon Treaty on 10 October, the Czech Republic is the only member state who has yet to sign the Treaty. Political pressure now lies on Czech Republic President Václav Klaus to ratify the Treaty as soon as the Czech Constitutional Court issues its judgement on the conformity of the Lisbon Treaty with the Czech Constitution. European Commission President Barroso and the Swedish Presidency apply pressure on Klaus to stick to his commitments towards the Czech Parliament and Senate which both adopted the Treaty as well as to the 26 other Member States whose national parliaments have ratified. Nevertheless, the main reference person for the EU remains Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer who now will have to exert pressure on his President in Prague, who has asked for additional footnotes to be applied to the Charter of Fundamental Rights attached to the Lisbon Treaty. Since the Czech Constitutional Court judgement is expected to be issued before the European Council on 29 and 30 October, all spotlights will be on the summit to find legal solutions. But here again, the Czech respresentative in Brussels will be Fischer.

Image: European Commission

Over the first October weekend, Ireland announced a 67.1% victory of the ‘Yes’ side in the country’s second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. Voter turnout increased by 5% from the first referendum, which was held in June 2008.

Image: www.flickr.com/ infomatique

When the 27 head of states signed the Lisbon Treaty on December 13th 2007, there was hope that the simplified Treaty would, this time, come into force in January 2009. All contentious points and symbols had been left out, and the new Treaty concentrated only on the urgently needed institutional reforms. However, the tables quickly turned: On 12th June the Irish – Ireland was the only country which held a referendum – voted against the Treaty. Yet, 25 member states have ratified the Treaty so far, mostly through their parliaments. Only the Czech Republic has not yet ratified it. While parliaments mainly voted pro-European, referenda in different member states would certainly have led to a different result. Knowledge and undertstanding of the Treaty is prevadingly low. The Irish government seems therewhile constrained to reorganise a referendum. But in an economic downturn and a growing negative atmosphere in Ireland a positive outcome seems close to unachievable.

Photo: www.flickr.com/ Smallisbeautiful

The Kaczinski twins of the opposition Law and Justice party are threatening to block the ratification of the Lisbon treaty if the ratification bill to be approved by Parliament does not include special provisions securing Polish sovereignty and guaranteeing that the Polish constitution will remain the highest law in the country. This move is fuelled by fears that Poland will end up being obligated to legalize abortion and gay marriage because of Citizens’ Rights Charter which is made binding by the treaty. Donald Tusk, the Polish Prime Minister had made the ratification of the Lisbon treaty a priority of his tenure, he needs twelve votes from the opposition to reach the two thirds majority necessary to pass the ratification bill. Should the bill die in parliament, Tusk could call for a referendum. He may want to find an agreement with the opposition, be it led by eurosceptic twins rather than launch in such risky business…