Britannia Radio

EU OBSERVER 21.1.09
Polish president won't sign Lisbon before Irish referendum
ELITSA VUCHEVA

Poland will not complete the final step of ratification for the EU's
Lisbon treaty until after Ireland has had its second referendum on
the document, the Polish president has reiterated.

While noting that his country does not intend to be an obstacle to
the bloc's ratification of the text, Lech Kaczynski said he would
only sign off on the treaty if Irish citizens say Yes in the new
vote, expected in autumn.

"In Ireland, the constitution requires a referendum and in a
referendum, the majority voted against the Lisbon Treaty," Mr
Kaczynski told foreign diplomats in Warsaw on Tuesday (20 January),
Polish news agency PAP reports.
"It is the sacred right of the Irish nation," he added.

The president's tough stance comes despite the Polish parliament's
foreign affairs committee on Tuesday passing a resolution for him to
yield.
"The parliament requests the president to respect the will of both
houses of parliament and to finish the process of ratification as
quickly as possible," the resolution - which is to be voted on in
plenary on Thursday - says, according to Rzeczpospolita.

The Polish president has in the past called the Lisbon Treaty "a
great new experiment" that "very much limits the unanimity principle
by introducing the majority principle instead."

One of his fellow Law and Justice party members in the Polish
committee debate said Lisbon would open the door for Germans to sue
Poland for war reparations.

Besides Ireland and Poland, Germany - which is awaiting a ruling by
its highest court on legal challenges to the text - and the Czech
Republic have also not yet ratified the EU treaty.

But speaking to MEPs on Tuesday, Czech foreign minister Karel
Schwarzenberg said Czech ratification should take place "soon".
"I am absolutely sure we will ratify," he said, adding: "But I am not
a member of the parliament and which day or which week of February
exactly it will happen, I cannot tell you."