President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, has appealed to the Czech Republic's prime minister to find an internal solution to allow for the country's ratification of the Lisbon Treaty so that it can become law before the end of the year.

“We certainly hope that no artificial obstacles are raised at this time, bearing in mind that the democratic approval of the treaty by the Czech parliament has already taken place,” Mr Barroso told reporters after meeting Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer.

“I have encouraged Prime Minister Fischer to find a solution for the issues not yet clarified internally and to discuss this with the Swedish [EU] presidency, with whom we are also in touch, so as to allow the entry into force of the treaty by the end of the year.”

After Polish President Lech Kaczyński signed the Lisbon Treaty over the past weekend, the Czech Republic is the only country in the 27-nation bloc which has yet to ratify the pact. Vaclav Klaus, president of the Czech Republic, has said he wants extra concessions before he signs the treaty. (ACK)

Source: Thomson Reuters