President Kaczyński said he would ratify the treaty if it got accepted by Ireland Courtesy of KPRP

Following Ireland’s “Yes” vote in its second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, only a few obstacles remained to its enactment. Other than the process of having the Irish government formally ratify the treaty, two executive signatures were notably absent – those of Polish President Lech Kaczyński and Czech president Vaclav Klaus.

As WBJ went to press, President Kaczyński, after a few conflicting statements from the government, was expected to sign the treaty last Saturday.

“Better late than never,” said Prime Minister Tusk in a parliamentary address.

EC President José Manuel Barroso, Swedish PM Frederik Reinfeldt and European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek were due to attend the signing ceremony at the Presidential Palace, as was PM Tusk.

President Kaczyński had been putting off signing the treaty since spring of 2008, when it was ratified by the Polish Parliament. The president had initially hailed the treaty as a Polish success, having had a hand in negotiating it, but later declared it a threat to Polish sovereignty and demanded additional laws to secure independence. After Ireland rejected the treaty last year in its first referendum, Mr Kaczyński deemed the document “dead” and refused to ratify it unless Ireland did so first.

Mr Klaus, on the other hand, has always taken a harder stance on the treaty. But he said last week that he would sign if it were cleared by his country’s Constitutional Court.
After meeting Mr Buzek on Friday, Mr Klaus said that the Czech Republic needs to negotiate an exemption to the Treaty to protect the country.

Both Poland and Britain won opt-outs on human rights issues. The former demanded guarantees against changes to laws on matters of family and morality, like abortion.